How It Goes
by Drindalis
Summary: The Joker has a little game planned. The prize? A free ride out of Arkham or one billion dollars. The objective? Kidnap the Red Hood AND Jason Todd. How will Jason be able to handle a city full of psychopaths who are all trying to catch him at once?
1. 11:30 to 4:00

DJG: And, here by popular demand, the sequel to 'What It's Like', which I have appropriately titled 'How It Goes'. I'd recommend reading 'What It's Like first if you haven't, otherwise you won't really get this story. Warning: Your eyes may start bleeding from sheer length of this thing. I got a bit carried away.

Muse: A 'bit'? A 'BIT'? The first story was 6,000 words. This one is over 20,000 words!

DJG: *shrugs* Never was good at math.

Muse: *face palm*

**EDIT: I'm replacing this extremely long oneshot with shorter chapters, and taking the time to fix mistakes and change a few things around without altering the original **_**too**_** much. Sorry to anyone reading this for the first time, because 'How It Goes 2.0' won't be uploaded completely for a few days.**

* * *

><p>The Joker grinned wickedly as he entered the common room of Arkham Asylum. He, of course, was a free man-technically. Breaking out counts, after all. Almost every major Gotham villain was either in this room or listening in by CB radio from hiding spots all over the city. The Joker had bribed half of the security staff to be allowed a mere half hour of time with this particular audience at 11:30 pm, and boy, did he have plans. Ever since he had escaped from the warehouse without blowing up the Red Hood and Red Robin, he had been laying low.<p>

The reason why would be explained during this meeting.

"Greetings, everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I'm the Joker! I'm here to announce a bit of a…contest for you! The prize is simple…whoever wins will get out of Arkham and _stay_ out. Forever. Isn't that just to _die_ for? Oh, and if you're already out, you will receive one _billion_ dollars instead!" he laughed loudly, several villains making faces of disbelief at each other.

"You say this is a contest. Riddle me this, what do we have to do to win?" the Riddler asked.

Joker grinned widely. "I'm glad you asked, my gingery friend. All you have to do is…bring both the Red Hood, and a boy by the name of Jason Todd to the warehouse at Pier 31 before 6:30 am Wednesday morning! It's Monday now, you do that math for yourself to see how much time you've got… Oh! And they've _got_ to be alive, that's an important little detail…"

Harley Quinn frowned innocently. "But, Mistah Jay…what's so special about some kid? The Red Hood I get, but-"

Joker smiled widely. "Why, puddin', that's the best part! See, Jason Todd…just so happens to be the son of the _Batman!"_

* * *

><p>Jason grumbled various curse words as he scrubbed the white paint off of his helmet, which was proving not to be an easy task. Water hadn't worked, bleach hadn't worked…it had taken almost two weeks for Jason to locate a very rare, and very illegal type of acid to <em>melt<em> the shit off…and even _that_ was having problems! Not only that, but he had felt slightly nauseous all morning and had a killer headache. It wasn't really improving his mood.

Finally, the colorless acid bath he was soaking the helmet in began to turn white…and then pink. It had melted off the regular paint, too.

"Fuck." he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. He would pull it out, but he didn't know just how long the rubber gloves he was wearing would hold up in the stuff. It probably wasn't a good idea to be outside of his apartment/hideout in broad daylight with the freakin' _Red Hood _helmet in a small tub of acid, but this was the bad part of town. He was in the alley, anyways. Not many would bother getting close to a dark-haired teen with violent eyes and an angry expression sitting in an alleyway…

The guy trying to sneak up on him with a gun obviously fell into the percentage that _would. _He raised the firearm, but didn't get a chance to fire before Jason leapt backwards and, in one fluid motion, kicked the guy in the back of his kneecaps, causing the would-be murderer's face to land in the tub of acid.

The man kicked and flailed for a moment, before suddenly going limp, dark red clouds turning the acid a striking color of crimson. Jason winced. "Geez….didn't think it would _kill_ him!" he murmured, pulling the guy's body away and tossing it to the side. He'd take it to the hospital later. Let them figure out who it was.

Then, he carefully picked up the tub of acid, making to carry it back inside. Without warning, a gunshot rang out, striking the tub's bottom. Jason dropped it with a hiss as his leg was scorched by the leaking acid. He dropped the tub and quickly rushed backwards, pulling his twin pistols from his pockets. He fired in the direction the shot had come from, emptying half a magazine in a few seconds.

After a moment, he heard a far-off cry, knowing he had struck the other shooter, as well.

Hopefully he wasn't dead, Jason had a few questions for him. He made a face as he realized the only reaction to the shootout was that people had stopped walking on his side of the street and were giving him the occasional odd look. Idiots. Then again, shootings were common down here in the slums.

He quickly rushed up the fire escape, wincing from the pain in his left leg, but gingerly leaped from one rooftop to another until he found a man lying in a puddle of his own blood. One bullet had torn through his collarbone, the other through his stomach. He wouldn't live.

Which meant no need to worry about secret identities.

He grabbed the sniper by the front of his coat, lifting him up to meet his eyes. "Who sent you?" he demanded.

The man groaned. "N…not tellin' y-you…"

"Oh yes, you damn well are! Trust me, I can make your death _much _more painful that this! So talk! _Now!"_ Jason snarled, shaking the man a bit.

"…I-it was…th…the J-Joker…h-he's got a…a hit ou' on y-you…J-Jason T-Todd…" the man suddenly shuddered and stopped breathing, his last words making the second Robin's blood run cold.

The Joker didn't scare the Red Hood. The Red Hood was afraid of _nothing_.

But the Joker scared Jason Todd. He scared Jason Todd a lot. The Joker had _murdered _him what seemed like a lifetime ago. Was he being watched right now? Had his apartment been bugged? It seemed likely. But if the Joker knew _his_ real identity…

…what _other_ identities did he know?

* * *

><p>Dick Grayson, police officer by day, vigilante crime fighter by night, frowned. Gordon had just gotten a phone call from some guy down in the slums, something about gunshots. Not a surprise, really, but since it was a slow day, he had been sent to check it out.<p>

The first thing he noticed as he pulled up to the address was the smell of blood. Not many people seemed to notice it, but Dick had been around it enough to know the scent. Following it to its source, he found a man lying facedown in the side of the alley.

"Sir? Sir, are you-" Dick cautiously rolled the man over and immediately recoiled, gagging violently. The man's face had been completely melted off. Luckily, the blood blocked most of the icky details from view. Another noticeable feature was the gun still clenched in his hand.

Head still reeling, Dick cautiously walked up the steps to the closest door, knocking firmly.

"Who's there?" a frantic, and oddly familiar voice demanded.

"My name is Dick Grayson, I'm with the GCPD. I need to ask you a few-"

The door was thrown open, revealing Jason Todd standing in the door with a bloody towel in his hand and an annoyed expression on his face.

"-questions."

"What do you want?" Jason grumbled, leaning heavily against the doorframe. He kept his face abnormally blank, not showing any signs of recognition.

"Do you know anything about that man in the alley?" Dick asked curiously, glancing down at his brother's injured leg, bleeding through a long, cleanly cut hole in his jeans. As he looked closer, he realized they hadn't been cut…they had been burned.

"No. Why would I? Do I look like a criminal to you, officer?" Jason asked, his voice containing a warning tone.

Dick's eyes scanned past Jason and into the room, not seeing anything suspicious. At the same time, he felt something wasn't right. Jason had called him 'officer'…and he had done it _without _being sarcastic or following it with an insult. There was also the way he was picking his words carefully…not cursing or even acknowledging he _knew_ Dick at all.

He was either being held at gunpoint or being recorded by someone. And since Dick could see no one else in the house…

"Sir, what happened to your leg?" he asked in his most professional voice, willing to play along, for now.

"Nothing. Just…an accident."

A long pause as Dick glanced over and saw the tub tipped over, a bullet hole in the bottom of it.

"I see. I guess I must have the wrong house, then. I'll be on my way." he said, turning to go.

"Wait!" He turned back around, seeing Jason half in, half out of the doorway. "Have you had lunch yet? There's this great diner a few miles away, on the intersection of East and Locust. They have the most amazing _strawberry and apple_ pancakes there. Around six pm is the best time to get them, when they're fresh."

Dick's eyes widened. "What if I prefer blueberry pancakes?" he questioned.

"Then I guess you'll have to bring your own, because they don't have any blueberry pancakes. I don't think they _ever_ have had blueberry pancakes."

Dick nodded, understanding the code Jason had come up with. An address, a time, and instructions to go there with Bruce.

Before he left, he bent down beside the tub, noticing the sides of it had began to warp and cave in on themselves. At the bottom was the Red Hood helmet, changed since the last time he had seen it. Then again, the last time he had seen it, it had been defaced by the Joker with white paint, black eyes, and a large red smile. Now, it was void of the regular red paint, too. The metal itself had somehow taken on a red color that reminded him suspiciously of blood, but the liquid it was sitting in was clear.

Hmm…

"You better hurry up and get down to that diner, or they might change the menu so that raspberry or worse…boysenberry…are the only kind you can get! Oh, and make sure you bring your own water; theirs is disgusting because they're so cheap." Jason called from the doorway, before slamming the door shut.

Dick quickly got into his car, grabbing the radio. "Boss? I need to take the rest of today off. Something's come up…my brother needs help."

"_We need all the men we can get right now, Grayson! Half of Arkham busted out last night, we just found out- Jesus Christ Ernie, get out of the way you damned piece of-listen, Grayson, can you get someone else to help him? We've got everyone on our Most Wanted list out running rampant! We've got to keep this quiet or there'll be CHAOS in the streets!"_

Dick gritted his teeth, spinning the car into a 180. Looks like there wouldn't be apple pancakes after all. "10-4, boss. I'll call my little brother and have him talk to my father."

* * *

><p>Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, resisted the urge to yawn as the business meeting droned on and on. Judging by Alfred's amused expression, he knew Bruce was bored out of his mind. Such is the price he pays to keep up appearances.<p>

Without warning, Tim Drake burst into the room, receiving several dirty glares from other people in the meeting.

"Tim! What're you-!" Bruce began scoldingly, half hoping his son had brought news of something that would cut the meeting short.

He didn't disappoint.

"I just got a call from Damian's school, he's in the nurse's office with an allergic reaction! They want your permission to send him to the hospital!"

Bruce grew momentarily concerned, then realized that if that were truly the case, Tim would have been much more worried. "What did he eat?"

"Strawberries!" Tim said frantically, putting on the cute, innocent little kid act. It work surprisingly well.

Bruce's eyes widened. Jason, huh? Well, then, that was something different altogether.

"Tell them that I give them my permission to take him to the hospital, and I'll be down to see him as soon as his meeting is over…" Bruce said, looking appropriately abashed at the thought of staying there any longer.

"Mr. Wayne…I'm sure we can finish the meeting without you. Please…see to your son." one of the businesswomen piped up.

Bruce smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

He left the room quickly, Tim and Alfred following behind him.

"I take it Master Jason has done something foolish?" Alfred asked.

Tim shook his head, thinking of the phone conversation he had with his eldest brother.

"Actually, some guys tried to kill him."

Bruce made a face of steely concern. "Is he all right?"

"I'm not sure. Dick said it looked like he had some chemical burns on his leg, and Jason asked him to bring some clean water to him, but I didn't see the injuries, so I don't know how bad they are. Oh, and the guy who tried to shoot him died a painful death by getting his face melted off."

Bruce narrowed his eyes as he walked down to the Batcave, followed by Alfred as Tim ran off to suit up. "Meaning Jason was playing around with acid of some sort. What would he need it for, his weapons of choice are firearms, so why…?"

Alfred spoke up. "Might I make a suggestion, sir? Perhaps Master Jason was trying to get that awful paint off of his helmet. I know water nor bleach nor any other household cleaning solution was effective in removing it."

Bruce frowned as he pulled the cowl over his head. "You know…I'd like to assume Jason's smart enough to not to use acid to clean his helmet, but…you make a very good point. Computer! See if you can locate any type of acid that is corrosive enough to harm human flesh but can also be used for cleaning purposes."

The computer scanned for a few moments, before revealing a few results. _"Most likely result: Stinger. A very rare acid that is popular in Eastern Gotham City for its unique killing abilities. It corrodes flesh on contact but can be held in containers for one hour intervals, no matter what the container is made of. A test was done by local scientists. They put Stinger in two containers side by side. One container was made of six inch thick solid steel. The other was made of plastic. They both wore through at the exact moment, one hour after being put inside. Stinger is believed to be a combination of phenol, hydrofluoric acid, and battery acid. It is colorless and odorless. It is currently the rarest acid in Gotham City, but is classified as a drug rather than a murder weapon."_

Bruce frowned. "Stinger, huh? Hm…I've heard of it, but…"

Tim appeared suddenly, having put on his Red Robin outfit. "Dick texted me directions to where Jason told us to meet him. I also brought a few bottles of water…that should be enough, right?" he asked, looking up to Bruce curiously.

Bruce ponder the sixteen year old's question for a moment. "I think we should bring some more, just in case. If it turns out we have too much, we'll make him drink it, okay?"

Tim grinned. "I'm sure that'll make him happy."

"He'll be overjoyed."

Tim's phone suddenly went off again, and he flipped it open, reading the screen for a moment before freezing, mouth hanging open in shock. "Er…that's a bit of a problem…"

Bruce arched an eyebrow.

"Dick said that the reason he didn't go see Jason himself is because half of Arkham broke out last night! They don't know why or how, but they don't want people to know about it. What are we going to do?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Hmm….half of Arkham breaks out the night before Jason is mysteriously attacked? I would understand if it was the Red Hood, but not his civilian identity…we need to look into that."

* * *

><p>DJG: I hope that I don't make people made by taking forever to fix mistakes. I just noticed a huge blunder I made and have to fix it. Well…to me, it's huge. I somehow got confused as to what character was supposed to be where during the following chapters and accidentally wrote Jason into being in two places at once. Never fear, however, because it actually gave me a great idea. ^^<p> 


	2. 4:00 to 6:00

DJG: And now, the updated Part 2! I'm hoping you guys like it!

Muse: Well, duh! You took away the only challenge involved, which was sitting down and reading an entire freaking book in one sitting! Then again, reading anything you write is a challenge...

DJG: -_- Why do I even let you do the author notes anymore?

Muse: Cuz you love me.

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><p>Jason was careful to keep his expression neutral as possible as he threw the necessities into a bag and prepared to leave what had been his home for four entire months. When you were constantly moving, you got used to staying in the same place. Oh well, he had seventeen other hideouts prepared all over the world should he need to get out in a hurry.<p>

There was only one other in Gotham, and that was where he was headed.

But if he was being watched, he didn't want to lead his stalker to the new place, either. So, he purposely changed out of his regular outfit, which could have a bug or a tracer hidden in the seams, and pulled on something he had never worn-a novelty T-shirt with the Batman symbol on it and carefully pulled on a pair of simple jeans that barely fit anymore, wincing as they brushed his injury.

Why did he even own a shirt advertising Batman? It was a gag gift from Nightwing before Jason's death. Luckily it was big on him when he was fourteen, so it fit without making him look like an idiot now. He made sure that the symbol was hidden from all angles as he put it on _backwards_ under his jacket. Hopefully once he was out on the street, he could turn it around and throw the jacket away, and then do other things to alter his appearance enough to lose any pursuers.

Before leaving, he made his way to the bathroom and ran some of the nasty water over his hand, running through his hair so it would appear lank, greasy, and longer than usual, before positioning it to flip over one eye. As a final touch, he pulled an old can of black spray paint from the cupboard and sprayed it into his palm, before carefully wiping it over the white patch in his hair. There. Now he'd blend in, hopefully. He looked like some emo druggie, typical for this part of town. Hopefully it would fool anyone who tried to follow him.

He picked up the bag and exited the apartment, sparing a sidelong glance at the dead man in the corner of the alley. Crap. He'd have to leave the body there and hope Dick called it in. He was glad now, more than ever, that the entrance to his apartment wasn't visible from the road. He quickly tossed the jacket away, flipping the shirt around and trading his combat boots for stereotypical black converse. Jason looked up, noticing a black car with tinted windows sitting outside the apartments,. Acting nonchalant, he strolled right over to the vehicle, tapping on the window. He might as well see if he could get any information from his stalkers. And the best way to do that? Play the 'teenager with a drug problem' card.

"Hey. You guys got somethin' to sell?" he asked in a monotonous voice as the window was rolled down, two men with burlap bags over their heads staring straight ahead. Jason made a face, poking the nearest man. "Hey. You awake? What you got, man?"

In his head, the men would have complained that he should go away before they killed him, to which he'd run away while they continued to watch his empty house.

In real life, he noticed there were two bullet holes in the fronts of the burlap bags, and an odd stench coming from the inside of the car.

Jason recoiled. A set up! Quick, he had to get away before-!

"Nice try, Mister Todd. But you'll have to do better than that!" the Scarecrow snickered, coming up behind him and blocking him from escape. Jason narrowed his eyes, reaching into his pockets to grab his pistols. Before he could fire at his apparent stalker, the Scarecrow raised a gun of his own…

Not at Jason, but at an old woman walking down the sidewalk, a little girl at her side, gripping the old woman's wrinkly hand firmly as they moved slowly down the street. The child couldn't have been older than five. The girl turned suddenly as she walked, watching the Scarecrow with silent and curious eyes. She had no idea what would happen if Scarecrow pulled the trigger.

"Drop your guns or I'll kill them both." the edge in the Scarecrow's voice was nothing but serious. Jason snarled, staring into the Scarecrow's masked eyes.

"No? Well, then-"

A reluctant clatter as Jason let his pistols hit the pavement.

The Scarecrow smiled widely behind his mask. "Good boy. Now, hold your hands out." Jason obliged, knowing what was coming. The Scarecrow quickly tied roped around Jason's crossed wrists, before tightening the knot firmly. "There. That should hold you for now. Get in the car, we're going for a little ride."

* * *

><p>Batman frowned, glancing around the shabby building. It appeared to be abandoned. Definitely not fit for human habitation. So why had Jason told them to meet him here, of all places? Surely he didn't live here…then again, there were a few possessions here that clearly belonged to Jason, but they were dusty and looked unused for quite awhile.<p>

Red Robin sighed. "What's taking him so long? He said he'd be here at six! What time is it now?"

Batman grunted. "Seven twenty-three." Tim sighed again, inwardly marveling at his father's ability to always know the exact time of day.

"I don't like this. Jason's hardly ever late. It's just not his style!" Red Robin piped up.

A small notebook sitting on top of a pile of boards suddenly caught Batman's attention. He picked it up slowly, examining its contents. A series of seventeen addresses, two of them in Gotham. They were already standing in one of them. It was written in a small, hasty scrawl, hardly legible. Jason's handwriting.

"Red Robin. Let's go." Batman stated, exiting the building quickly. Tim got up, confused, struggling to carry all the bottles of water they had brought.

"But, what about-?"

"We're going to his other apartment. It's nearby. He could be having trouble with those chemical burns and needs help." he said as way of explanation. He then grabbed a water bottle out of the air as it slipped from his third eldest's grip, handing it back to him.

One car drive later, they arrived at what Batman assumed was his second son's former apartment. By now it was almost dark, the sun a small dot far on the horizon. Tim left the water in the car, following Batman as he opened the door, finding it unlocked. There appeared to be no electricity in the place, just a small battery-operated lantern lying by where the light switch would be. While Tim walked forward, Bruce began fiddling with the object to get it to turn on.

"Red Robin, I don't think he's-_don't step there!" _Batman cried, quickly pulling Tim back before he could put his foot down. He then lit the lantern, revealing a tub half-full of acid right in Tim's path. There appeared to be a hole in the bottom of the tub, causing the acid to leak through the floorboards and weaken them. If Tim had stepped there, he could have fallen through the floor and been injured by the dangerous liquid falling on top of him.

"Whew! Thanks for the save. But you're right, I don't think anyone's here." Tim responded, getting to his feet. Batman scoped around the room, suddenly freezing as he reached up and plucked a tiny object from the corner of the ceiling an examined it.

"A camera…a really small one. This style is mostly used by the Penguin. Why would he be spying on the kid who lives here?" Batman asked, quickly dropping the camera into an airtight and soundproof evidence bag and slipping it back into his utility belt. Hopefully the Penguin wouldn't learn anything from their conversation. This only helped prove his theory that Jason had become a target by some of the Arkham escapees. But why him? As a citizen, he didn't stand out at all.

Tim suddenly caught sight of a gleam in the alleyway. He leaped off the stairs, landing gracefully on his feet in front of whatever had caught his eye. "Batman, look at this! It's Jason's jacket, and his combat boots, too!" he said, holding them up.

Bruce's attention, however, had been caught by something going on across the street. A pair of two boys ranging from age ten to twelve were surrounding a small girl, who was crying silently. Both of the boys had guns.

Batman was gone in a flash, lifting both boys into the air by their shirts at the same time. He suddenly got a closer look at the weapons as the horrified boys quickly handed them over.

"Where did you get those?" he demanded. There weren't many handguns in the slums of such nice quality…these ones looked well used, but still in top condition. Also, there was the dead giveaway, a small red 'X' on the bottom of the handle of each-Jason's personal mark. He put it on all of his favorite firearms.

"I-I swear we didn't steal 'em! R-right, Davie?" the oldest boy said frantically. The second oldest nodded quickly.

"Y-yeah, Mister Batman…we f-found 'em, right here on the ground! Th-that makes 'em _ours_, right? F-finders k-keepers, right?"

Batman dropped the boys in disgust. "Get out of here. _Never_ do anything like this again…or else!" The boys ran off quickly, leaving the guns forgotten at Bruce's feet. He knelt to pick them up, noticing the matching dents on the top of the barrels.

"Hmm…"

Pistols like these didn't dent easily. Then again, they wouldn't last long if they were dropped on a hard surface. Say, like…concrete. Scanning the ground nearby, Batman caught a glimpse of two small shiny marks on the pavement. Bingo.

Suddenly, he felt a small tug on his cape. He glanced down, seeing the little girl from before looking up at him.

"M-Mister Batman? Are you gonna go save the other boy, now?" she asked in a small voice. Bruce looked around, but saw no one else on the block. It was completely deserted.

"…what other boy?"

The girl pointed to the matching handguns. "The boy who dropped those. A bad man in a funny hat pointed a different one of these at me and my Nanna…then the other boy dropped those things and the bad man took the boy away from here in a car. Are you gonna go save him, now?"

By this time, Tim had come over. "Do you remember what the boy looked like? And where the car was going?"

The little girl frowned. "The car went down the street that way." she said, pointing to the north. "The boy who dropped those things was tall, an' skinny…"

"What about his hair color? Do you remember what color it was?" Tim asked.

"Yeah! It was all black! It was also kinda long for a boy…it covered one of his eyes." the girl said proudly.

"_Hmm…that doesn't sound like Jason…he's got a patch of white bangs now, anyway." _the Dark Knight thought to himself. Jason also despised long hair, especially on himself. Every time it had gotten long enough to be used as something to grab onto, he would cut it.

"_The last thing I need is someone pulling my freaking hair during a fight. That's just retarded. No matter how epic the battle, as soon as someone starts pullin' hair, it turns into a wussy fight. And I'm NOT a wussy!"_

Not only that, but Jason hated it when people used their hair to cover their face because it made 'everyone look fuckin' suspicious'.

"Wow! You're so smart! Do you remember what the boy was wearing, though?" Tim praised, watching the girl grin widely.

"Uh-huh! He had a Batman shirt on! And those funny shoes that look like…this!" the girl said. She used water from a nearby puddle to do a quick picture on the pavement of what looked similar to the pattern on a football.

"_There's no way that was Jason...he wouldn't be caught dead with a Batman shirt on…not even _before_ he died!" _Batman thought sadly.

"He had…that on his shoes?" Tim asked, trying to make sense of the drawing.

"Yup! They were black shoes, too…but _this_ part of them was white." she said, proudly pointing to her picture.

Batman frowned for a moment, before he realized what she meant. "Converse?"

Tim grinned. "That's probably it! Oh, and one more thing…what did the bad man look like?"

The girl narrowed her eyes into a cute little angry face. "He was ugly! That's why he had a sack on his head! And a goofy hat! He was mean, too, he made one of those things he had make loud noises and made two people in a car fall asleep! I tried to wake 'em up, but then my Nanna yelled at me and made me leave. That's when the other boy came outside."

Tim made a face of realization. The girl had been playing outside when the Scarecrow had come along, shot two people in a car, and then kidnapped some kid with Jason's guns by holding the little girl and her grandmother at gunpoint. "Thanks for the help! Now, you better go back inside, little girls shouldn't be outside so late!"

"Okay! Bye, Batman and Robin!" she said cheerfully, running off.

Batman gave Tim a look. "Never knew you were so good with kids, Red Robin."

Tim rolled his eyes. "It's not that I'm _good_ with kids, it's just that you're _not."_

Batman made a face. "Touché. Let's check out the north and see if we can find the kid."

Tim arched an eyebrow. "So you don't think it's Jason?"

"…no."


	3. 6:00 to 8:42

DJG: Well, I fixed a few little continuity errors. For example, I accidentally mentioned that Dick had given the Batman shirt to Jason when he was fifteen, when I had already written somewhere else that Jason died at age fourteen. Whoopsies. Oh, well. ^^ It's fixed now. Enjoy chapter three!

* * *

><p>Jason silently adjusted the ropes around his wrists as the car drove on, thinking back to the moment Scarecrow had tied them together.<p>

_The Scarecrow quickly tied roped around Jason's crossed wrists, before tightening the knot firmly. _

_Jason's crossed wrists._

_Crossed._

Smirking to himself, Jason _uncrossed_ his wrists so that they were side-by-side, and took up less space. Meaning, more slack in the rope. Still, it was a tight squeeze to pull a hand out. Finally, he got one wrist free, checking to make sure Scarecrow hadn't noticed. When he was sure the Scarecrow had no idea that his captive had just been freed, Jason paused to shake some feeling back into his hands. They were traveling north, probably to the far edge of Gotham. They would be going over an overpass soon.

A sudden wave of pain washed over him as his injured leg flashed with heat, reminding him that infection of the chemical burns was becoming a serious problem. He had also noticed that for the past twenty miles or so, his vision had gone slightly blurry to go with the hot, feverish feeling he had all over his body. Still, he had to do this.

Gritting his teeth, Jason lunged into the front seat, wrapping his hands around the Scarecrow's throat. The car swerved hard to the right, the wheels locking up as the car rolled twice, before pitching off the edge of the overpass. There was a long moment of silence that felt like slow motion, before the car suddenly smashed into the pavement front-end first with a booming crash.

Jason was thrown into the backseat from the force of the impact, at the same time the Scarecrow's bag, filled with syringes of the liquid fear toxin, fell open in the backseat with him. He had the briefest sensation of several small pains in his arm, before his head struck the window and the world became very dark and very quiet.

* * *

><p>Batman looked up as he heard screams floating on the night air. He silently began leaping across rooftops, Tim following closely behind him as they approached the crash site. They landed on the overpass, inspecting the crash. The black car's front end was fully engulfed in flames, several people around it the sources of screaming.<p>

"There's people in there!" a woman shrieked, recoiling as the fire popped a few times.

Batman leapt down, followed by Red Robin.

"Keep them back." Batman commanded, before prying the driver's side door open. He then jumped back as red smoke poured out, quickly putting on a small gas mask to avoid Scarecrow's fear toxin. Once the gas had cleared, he reached inside and tugged Scarecrow from the wreckage. The man's finger sprayers had been damaged in the crash, so the toxin had discharged.

Batman set the Scarecrow down away from the crash after concluding the man wasn't dying. He was just unconscious, probably from his own fear gas. Only then did Batman carefully move the other body out of the vehicle. It appeared to be the teenager the little girl had described, possibly sixteen or seventeen years old…then again, it was hard to tell exactly how old kids were when they wore their hair in their face. The teen also had several syringes sticking into his arm at an odd angle. He must have fallen on them when the car crashed.

Inspecting one, Batman realized they belonged to Scarecrow, meaning they were full of the fear toxin. Great. This poor kid would have to deal with it for many hours before it would wear off.

He gently set the limp body down, moving the hair in the boy's face to the side…and freezing as he was suddenly back at Jason's funeral five years ago. The most striking detail between the body that had been in the casket and this one was…the faces were the same. The expression on this face…the utter _lack _of expression…was that of a corpse.

Batman frantically reached for the look-alike's wrist, still refusing to believe this was his son. Instead of finding a pulse, he found ropes, indicating that this teenager had not been a willing passenger in the Scarecrow's car.

The teen suddenly began shuddering, probably from the fear toxin. "…nnnnno…d-don' wan….don' wanna die…no…not 'gain…Br-Bru…_help…" _he mumbled feverishly under his breath. Batman's eyes widened behind the cowl as the teen confirmed his identity. This was Jason! He had disguised himself for some reason, and done it well enough that his own father hadn't even recognized him.

Suddenly, a suspicious looking man ran forward, obviously feigning distress. "Th-that's my son! My son!"

Bruce glared at the man. "Then explain why your hair is red and his is black." he stated coldly.

The man looked affronted. "My wife's hair is black! He gets it from her!"

Batman eyed the man's left hand, noticing the lack of a wedding band. "Your wife."

"Uh…yeah! She…uh…died last year!" the man covered quickly.

"You are aware that naturally black hair isn't very common in women from around here, correct?" Batman asked. The man looked frustrated that his plan was falling apart.

"She was Italian!" he cried. Batman gestured to Jason's pale skin.

"This boy is fully Caucasian. Also, children tend to resemble the parent they share genders with. He looks nothing like you. This boy was kidnapped, and you're trying to cover the Scarecrow's mistake! You're sick, trying to steal a defenseless child like as if he were a piece of property!" Now, the defenseless part was a load of bull, as Jason was the furthest thing in the world from defenseless, but he needed the crowd on his side if he was going to be able to take Jason back to the Manor without being called a kidnapper himself.

It seemed to be working, as the small crowd had begun giving the man looks of disgust.

"Arg! I don't have time to play guessing games with you! Even if I don't get to walk away with the kid, someone else will! Mark my words, Batman, you can't protect your son forever! Not with the huge bounty on his head!" With that said, the man disappeared into the crowd, with Batman staring after him with shocked eyes.

"_B-but…how did he…?"_

That man _knew _Jason was his son? _How? _And that bounty the man had mentioned…well, that explained why half of Arkham had broken out at the same time. But why had Jason become the target? What set him apart from any other kid living in the slums?

Oh, right. His dad was freaking _Batman._

The crowd all began murmuring, forcing past Tim as they all tried to get a closer look at the boy that was apparently Batman's son. All they'd have to do is identify the kid, and the father would be almost too easy to find…

Bruce looked around, realizing what the implications of this 'bounty' were. If any of the criminals who got out of Arkham started looking around, they'd find out Jason Todd's biological father, Willis, was dead. Not only that, but Two-Face would make the connection between the man he killed and the Robin who was so upset about it…If they did more searching, they'd find out Jason Todd was also legally dead, buried in the backyard of Wayne Manor.

His adoptive father's home.

It all led back to Bruce Wayne.

Batman kept his face stone cold as he carefully lifted Jason into his arms, the limp teenager reminding him way too much of the only other time he'd held his son this way…the night he died.

"Red Robin. We need to leave." he commanded, vanishing into the shadows, Tim quickly following behind him.

* * *

><p>The Joker chuckled madly as he watched all of this occur through dozens of tiny hidden cameras. It was perfect! Set all his competition in Arkham up in a situation where only one could win…well, as they thought, two could win…brilliant! Many of them would figure out the best way to win was to take out the competition, meaning less trouble for the Joker when his master plan finally starts to unfold. But, to do that…the Batman has to be completely occupied, physically, mentally, and emotionally.<p>

And to do _that_, you mess with his 'children'.

The Joker had various plans, such as throwing Nightwing off a trapeze and making sure he was permanently disabled; it seemed to work well for the former Batgirl, plus the Joker had a feeling the first Robin's past involved a circus. The second plan? Maybe hunt down Talia and use her as bait for the current Robin the same way the second Robin had died-defending a mother who didn't love him.

It was that plan, really, that had led him to thinking of the second Robin. Maybe find the grave and steal the body, maybe dressing it up to look like himself? Nah, that didn't work well when he tried that on the third Robin…

Still, the idea of messing with Batman's dead kid…_that_ held appeal.

So, he began investigating. He found an old address book belonging to Sheila Haywood in her tent after killing her and her son, and found a name: Willis Todd. The address was in Gotham, the rest of the addresses mostly in Africa. After investigating Willis, the Joker learned that he and Sheila had a kid-and it was Sheila's only son. Bingo. That son had to be the Robin that he beat to death with the crowbar.

It only took a bit more investigating to learn the boy's name. Jason Todd. There were only twelve Jason Todd's in Gotham, and none of them were the right age or appearance...except for one. Jason Peter Todd, age fourteen when he died. It didn't say how he died, but he was buried in the backyard of Wayne Manor. Perfect. Batman had probably bribed Bruce Wayne to get the kid buried somewhere private so the kid's death wouldn't give away his identity.

So, three days after he tried to blow up the Red Hood and Red Robin, he snuck over to Wayne Manor with Harley and Poison Ivy, having the plant goddess use roots to part the dirt enough for him to jump down and pry open the casket. To his surprise, the body was a fake.

"_Ahahaha! I guess the joke's on ME this time, ladies!"_

Two weeks ago, he found the kid wandering in the slums. As soon as he went inside a building, the Joker waited for him to leave and then bugged the place with the Penguin's cameras to avoid suspicion if he was found out. Through these means, he discovered another gooey little secret; Jason Todd was the Red Hood!

He also learned of the kid's apparent resentment for the entire Bat family. That would be a useful factor to exploit.

Then, his master plan began to unfold. A way to ruin every Bat in Gotham…rogue or not…and simultaneously bring this city to its knees. And it would be frightfully easy…provided everything was set up just right. Thus, he began his 'game', with both Jason Todd and the Red Hood as the prize. There was no way to catch them both…

Meaning there was no way to win!

And by default, that meant the _Joker_ would be the absolute winner.

"Hehehe! I can't believe they took the bait so easily! Talk about hook, line, and sinker, eh puddin'?" the Joker asked Harley. She yawned.

"Yeah, yeah…hey, why can't we tell Ivy that Jason Todd and the Red Hood are the same person? And what about Meowmix? I got friends, too, ya know!" she whined.

"_Because, _that ruins the fun of it! Besides, if they can't figure it out on their own, then so much the better! What's the good of telling the perfect joke if they're too idiotic to figure out the punch line?"

Harley pouted. "Whatevah you say, Mistah Jay!"

* * *

><p>Dick tapped his foot impatiently on the sidewalk as he looked around. It was dark out, on a regular night he'd be out patrolling as Nightwing. He'd catch way more criminals that way anyways. All day looking, and the police had only caught two. The Penguin had turned himself in a few hours ago, complaining that the 'game' the escapees were playing was impossible to win, and that everyone was trying to kill each other.<p>

"_I'd rather take my cell back at Arkham! At least I know I'm safe there!"_

_The police had agreed under the condition that the Penguin tell them as much as he knew about the contest._

"_Simple. You have to capture the Red Hood and Jason Todd and bring them to Pier 31 at 6:30 tomorrow morning. If you can do that, you're free from ever being back in Arkham again! And if you're already a free man, he'll give you one _billion _dollars! The only specifications were that they both _must_ be alive, which certainly makes it harder for the more….violent ones." the Penguin explained._

"_The Red Hood I can understand…but who's this Jason Todd?" Gordon asked. _

"_Well, you see, officer, Jason Todd is the son of the Batman."_

_Total silence, broken only by the sound of Dick choking violently on the pop he had been drinking._

"_A-are you serious? And you believed him?" a detective asked incredulously._

_The Penguin gave him a look. "Why not? It's not like _you_ have any way to prove that it's a lie. For all we know, the Batman could have _tons_ of family! Even_ he_ could be Batman's son for all we know!" the Penguin cried, gesturing to Dick, who abruptly choked on his drink again._

"_Don't hurt yourself, kid." one of the officers remarked, smacking him on the back._

The only other criminal they had caught was the Riddler, who had tried pumping sleeping gas into a train Jason hadn't even been a passenger on. Idiot.

Tim had texted Dick their cover story of Damian being sent to the hospital as an excuse to try and get Gordon to let him leave. The ironic thing was Damian was stuck at the Manor doing homework, probably with no idea what was going on with the rest of his family.

It was ultimately shut down.

"Sorry about your brother Grayson, but we need everybody we can get! Here, take the keys to my car and do a few sweeps around the area. A few _long_ sweeps." Gordon said, handing Dick his keys.

Dick suddenly realized what Gordon was giving him. The hospital was only a few blocks away from here. Gordon's car didn't have any law enforcement insignias on it either, meaning…

His boss had just handed him a few hours of freedom. Sure, it was intended for him to visit his brother, but it would be better for making himself useful as Nightwing.

"Thank you, sir!"

"Don't thank me, get out there and sweep!" Gordon said loudly, while also shooting him a wink.

Dick quickly got into the sleek black car, driving away quickly. Suddenly, his phone went off.

"Hello?"

"_Dick? Are you busy?"_ Tim asked.

"Nah, I'm free for a couple of hours. What do you need?"

"_It's… about Jason, actually."_

Dick frowned. "What's wrong? Is his leg worse?"

"_Kind of…he's not doing so good, actually."_

Even over the phone, Dick could hear the uneasiness in Tim's voice.

"Where are you?"

"_The Manor."_

"And what's Jason's condition?"

"…"

"Tim! Talk to me!" Dick commanded, swerving sharply as he took a turn at a much higher speed than was probably necessary.

"_I don't know…Bruce locked me and Damian out…the last I saw, Jason was screaming about not wanting to die and Bruce was literally carrying him down to the cave."_

"Oh, God…"

"_He wasn't at the spot he told us to be, so we went looking for him and found out he had been kidnapped by the Scarecrow. We found the wreck at the bottom of an overpass. Bruce thinks Jason somehow got free and tackled the Scarecrow from behind, which made them drive off the edge. He ended up stuck with about six needles full of Scarecrow's fear toxin, though…he's also feverish and his leg's infected…Alfred thinks that he might even have a concussion from the accident."_

"I-I thought Bruce locked you out?" Dick stammered, pulling up to the Manor.

"_He did. Alfred's been answering my questions through text message since he's down there, too."_

Dick paused at that. "I didn't even know Alfred had a phone! Does Bruce know?"

"_Nope, and we're gonna keep it that way."_

The first Robin managed a small smile despite himself, before opening the door and entering the hall. He was immediately tackled by Tim, who practically dragged him over to the clock that was the secret entrance to the Batcave.

"C'mon, Dick! See if Bruce will let you in!"

Dick ignored Tim for a moment as he cautiously pressed his ear to the clock. He had thought he had heard…but no, it couldn't be-

A faint shriek suddenly met his ears, followed by a ragged gasp, and then another scream.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "No way…that's not-"

"Oh, yes it is." Damian piped up from his spot across the room, arms crossed as he leaned up against the mantle of the fireplace. "Todd's been screaming like that since Father brought him home. It's actually quite embarrassing."

Tim snarled at his little brother. "Oh, shut up, Damian! He's overdosing on Scarecrow's fear toxin! You've never even been on the stuff, so you don't know what you're talking about!"

Dick was mildly surprised about Tim being so quick to defend Jason. Then again, he did protect Tim from the Joker when they were kidnapped together.

Damian scoffed. "Whatever. It _is_ impressive how he managed to take out the Scarecrow, though…that rope trick…if he survives, I think I'll make him teach me that…"

Dick was more bothered by Damian using the word 'if' than the entire rest of his sentence. He suddenly became aware that Tim had a large bruise forming under his eye.

"What exactly happened when you brought him home? You look like you're hurt, Tim…"

Tim looked embarrassed. "Well….uh…Jason was really messed up from the fear stuff… Bruce said that since Jason doesn't really have one main fear, just a bunch of them, so he keeps switching between them. Uh….one of them was apparently that he'd try to hurt innocent people, because Jason literally had us all on the floor, and then he was going after Alfred-"

Dick's eyes widened. "He…he attacked _Alfred?"_

Damian smirked. "He would have murdered all of us if it wasn't for Father."

Tim was obviously resisting the urge to punch the younger boy. "He would _not_ have, okay! Just knock it off, already!" he turned to Dick. "Try and get down there. Alfred said he's moved past freaking out to just kind of sitting there and crying."

"Bruce! It's me, Dick! Let me in!" he yelled loudly, knocking on the clock. Silence, broken only by the sounds of Jason's sobs from below.

"I don't think he's going to let you in." Damian stated.

"Great observation." Tim grumbled.


	4. 8:00 to 9:13

DJG: And now, I present chapter four! XD Enjoy!

* * *

><p>By the time Batman and Red Robin had made it back to the Batmobile, Jason was half conscious. The only thing keeping him from being fully awake was the raging infection in his leg. Bruce, personally, was glad that Jason wasn't fully awake…if he was, he would suffer even more from Scarecrow's fear toxin. And still, Batman wondered…what was his second son, the one who had grown up on the streets watching his adoptive mother die…being abandoned by his biological father…scrounging for scraps just to <em>survive<em>…eventually trying to steal tires off the _Batmobile_ just for a chance to get something to eat…

Becoming Robin, being shot at, attacked, held at gunpoint, beat up, and after all of that, having to try and live up to Bruce's ridiculous expectations…having to try to _be_ Dick when he clearly was _not_…then, the events with his birth mother that led to her handing him over to the _Joker_ on a silver platter…being _murdered_ right in front of his _own mother_, who didn't even _care_…trying to protect her anyways, before being blown up in a huge explosion that _killed_ his _betrayer_…to being _buried_, and ultimately _resurrected…_having to _claw_ his way out of his own _grave_…being trapped in an autistic state where he couldn't even form a coherent sentence…shoved into the Lazarus Pit to heal his mind…finding out Bruce Wayne, the closest thing to a father he had ever _known_…had _replaced_ him. And he hadn't even _bothered_ to avenge him…What did a kid who had suffered through all of that and still, ultimately survived….what was _he_ afraid of?

Bruce was afraid to find out.

Tim had helped Jason lay down in the back of the Batmobile, carefully watching him for any changes in his condition. About halfway to the Manor, Jason began to groan under his breath, his eyes opening slowly. His green eyes, normally bright and dangerous, were dull and unfocused, the pupils wide and dark.

Neither of them knew what fear the toxin would make him see. So it was a bit of a shock when he suddenly started crying silently, staring up at something only he could see.

"Wh-what…is th-that…is he really…?" Bruce stammered, catching a glimpse in the rear-view mirror. He had _never _seen Jason cry, not even as a small child. He didn't know what to do.

"It's called _crying_, Bruce. Some kids are known to do it." Tim stated dryly.

Suddenly, Jason's hands moved up a few inches above his face, pressing up as if he was in a small box of some kind. Bruce paled as he realized exactly what Jason's worst fear was.

"No…! I…I'm stuck…l-let me out! I'm not dead! Pl-please! Anyone!"

Tim seemed to realize what was occurring, too. "He's reliving being buried alive, isn't he?" he asked, horrified.

Bruce swore, swerving around a corner. "Try and snap him out of it!"

"How?" Tim asked frantically.

"I don't know! Talk to him, shake him, do anything!" Bruce seemed just as afraid of seeing Jason relive that particular moment as Jason was of it happening again.

Tim quickly grabbed Jason's hands, trying to pull them up. "Jason! Calm down, it's all in your head! It's not real!" To his surprise, however, Jason's hands didn't budge. He thought it was real, so in his mind, there was no way for his hands to go through wood.

"Bruce, it's not working!"

"We're almost to the Manor. Try and keep him quiet."

"Jason! Bruce says to be quiet!"

"_Tell him I said tough shit." _Jason suddenly hissed, his eyes focusing on Tim for a split second before suddenly rolling back into his head as he fell limp against the backseat.

Bruce turned around, staring at his second son in stunned disbelief as soon as they pulled into the driveway of the Manor. "He's fighting it…quick, run inside and tell Alfred to start making the antidote. I'm taking him down into the cave."

Tim nodded, sprinting up the walkway and into the house, tearing off his cowl and throwing it to the side. "Alfreeeeeeed! Bruce needs your help!" he cried, not seeing him anywhere. A doorway suddenly opened, the English butler striding over with quick but dignified steps.

"Master Timothy? What appears to be the problem?" he asked, concerned.

His attention was suddenly overtaken by Bruce struggling to get Jason into the house. Jason had apparently regained partial consciousness, as he was now squirming to get away from his father. "Let…go…of me! I'll kill you, old man!" Jason snarled in a voice utterly void of emotion, flailing wildly.

"What happened to the claustrophobia?" Tim asked incredulously.

"He's…I think that…darn it, Jason! I think since he got injected with…the liquid form, he's going through…his biggest fears, plural! He has to…conquer them…one at a time…because he doesn't just have…_one_ greatest fear!" Bruce said, struggling to keep Jason's arms pinned to his sides.

Alfred backed away in surprise. "And what fear is this one, Master Bruce?"

One of Jason's hands suddenly broke free, wrapping around Tim's throat, easily lifting the other teen off of the ground and throwing him into Bruce. Both ended up on the ground in a heap.

"Urg…I think…he's afraid of becoming a monster. A…a killing machine with no regard for human life..." Bruce responded from his position on the floor.

Damian suddenly bolted down the stairs, attracted by the noise. "What's going on down there? What the-? Todd? What are you doing?" he demanded, lunging at him. He was easily knocked to the floor by a brutal kick to the stomach, Jason barely even noticing him.

Alfred cautiously approached Jason with his hands up in a gesture of peace. Jason had stopped flailing, merely standing upright, staring at the floor. "Master Ja-"

Jason's fist quickly pulled back as if to hit the old man, before he suddenly stopped, his fist opening and turning into a weak slap with almost no force behind it. He swayed weakly, his eyes becoming clear again for a split second.

"_S-sorry, Al…"_ he said quietly, before Bruce suddenly tackled him, knocking him to the floor.

Tim got up, groaning as he rubbed the sore spot under his eye. That was gonna hurt in the morning. "I think there's a pattern, Bruce…as soon as he conquers each fear, he has a few seconds of control, and then it switches to another one….any idea how long this'll last?"

Bruce looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure…a few hours, at least…I-I just thought he was going to hurt Alfred…"

Alfred managed a wry smile. "I think you'll find that I am perfectly capable of handling myself, sir." he said, holding up a candlestick that belonged on the other side of the room.

When had he had time to grab…? Never mind.

"N-no...no! No, I don't wanna die! Not again! No! Please!"

Bruce quickly lifted Jason up, supporting him as he half-dragged Jason over to the clock.

"Stay up here, Tim. Alfred, come with me."

"W-wait! What about-" The clock shut firmly. "Oh, thanks!" Tim yelled, hearing nothing but silence. He pulled out his cell phone after a moment, calling Dick.

Bruce carefully set his son's body down on a table they used for when someone was injured. Luckily, this one had straps. Bruce held Jason down while Alfred quickly went about restraining him, making sure they were tight enough to hold him, but not to hurt him.

"Now, to see about those chemical burns…" Bruce muttered, very carefully taking scissors and cutting the left jean leg off at mid thigh, wincing as the injuries were revealed. The skin was worn and raw, bleeding in some places. Most of the area had turned a sickly color of yellow, causing Bruce to frown. Luckily, the infection wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't good, either…

"Alfred, can you bring me some fresh water?" Bruce asked, inspecting his son closer. It was sort of critically important that he didn't continue thrashing while he was getting patched up, or things could get ugly.

Alfred returned from the other side of the cave with a large pitcher of water.

"Thank you." Bruce murmured, before carefully pouring it onto the wounds. Jason's back stiffened, his eyes widening as he struggled to sit up. Without warning, he started laughing loudly, causing chills to run down the spines of both Bruce and Alfred. They had either met or seen footage of the Joker enough times to know what he sounded like. Jason was doing a scarily accurate impersonation.

"Ahaha…ha…hey, Daddy, wanna see a magic trick?" Jason asked, one of his hands wrapping around Batman's cape and pulling forward…hard. Bruce unwillingly stumbled forward, his head smacking firmly against the light shining down on his patient. Luckily, he didn't lose consciousness as Jason had planned. Instead, Bruce got to his feet and grasped Jason's shoulders firmly.

"Jason! Snap out of it! You are _not _crazy! You are…my son! And it's about time you start acting like it!"

Jason stopped laughing all of a sudden, his eyes regaining clarity for a moment as he went all but limp.

"_But…I thought I was your biggest failure, old man…"_

Before Bruce could respond, Jason's eyes went dull as he collapsed against the other, who quickly laid him back down. They had a few precious seconds, Bruce using them to continue cleaning Jason's injury, careful to keep the acidic water far away from the table…in this state, who knew what exactly Jason could accomplish? The last thing they needed was for him to somehow get free of the restraints and then drink it or something.

A small voice suddenly came from the teenager. "I'm stuck…"

Bruce looked up. "Jason? I'm right here, it's okay."

"Let me out…"

This was the fear of being buried alive, coming around for another round. That meant Jason apparently had three main fears- one, being buried alive again. Two, killing the innocent without remorse. The third had been Jason's fear of being insane, probably stemmed from being sent to Arkham for a few weeks. It physically hurt the Dark Knight to think it had been his fault for one of Jason's fears even existing.

"…someone help…please…"

"It's okay, Jason. You're not alone. We're all here."

"…Bruce…you're a liar…" Jason said weakly, his eyes opening but seeing nothing.

Without warning, Dick, Tim, and even Damian were there, having apparently put their skills together to unlock the clock from the outside.

"Hey, Jaybird! It's okay, everyone's here now!" Dick said cheerfully, even though his eyes were frantically scanning Jason's appearance and injuries.

"…really?" Jason's tone was that of a child asking if Santa was coming that year. He didn't even complain about Dick calling him 'Jaybird'.

"Yup! We even dragged the Unholy One down here! Say hi, Damian!" Tim said happily, everyone marveling at his uncanny ability to stay cheerful in almost any situation.

"…I'll pass." Damian grumbled.

"I told you to stay upstairs!" Bruce said in a warning tone. He respected Jason's privacy enough to know his second son would have freaked out if he knew everyone was watching him right now, in his moment of weakness.

"But, Bruce!" Dick and Tim whined, while Damian merely stared at Jason.

"It's only affecting his fears individually because of the acid…you know that, right?"

Bruce looked at his youngest son oddly. "What do you-?"

"There's a reason Stinger is sold as a drug, not as a weapon. Some people boil it and sniff the fumes. Apparently it works better than LSD and crack…it's also more destructive. That's probably why it's affecting all of his fears, and not just picking one. I heard Poison Ivy is a fan of Stinger because if you add a certain kind of chlorophyll to it, it delays the effects of the acid. So then, if someone wanted to poison somebody with it by putting it in their drink, that person won't even know something's wrong until roughly a day and a half later. Then they die slowly as it turns back into acid. Something in the chlorophyll makes the poison linger in the system, too. The only symptoms are headaches and nausea, similar to a cold or flu. " Damian said.

Dick look horrified. "How do you _know _this?"

Tim looked equally horrified. "He's a Demon Child! Oh, God, Jason was _right!"_

"Will you two _knock it off? _If what you say is true, Damian, then…_"_ Bruce trailed off, giving the other two both a look.

"Then Todd could be poisoned, too, probably by Poison Ivy." Damian confirmed.

Dick made a face. "Jesus…those escapees are serious about this 'game' thing!"

He received several questioning faces.

"Oh, yeah…the Penguin gave us the low-down on this thing…the Joker's offering a lifetime without being thrown back into Arkham or one billion dollars to the person who brings Jason and the Red Hood to him at Pier 31 at 6:30 am tomorrow. They don't know that they're the same person…all they know is that Jason is Batman's son. So, there's some who don't even care about the reward and are more interested in revenge against you, Bruce." Dick explained.

Bruce swore at this information, resisting the urge to break something. "How does the Joker know…how does he know that Jason is my son? How does he know that…how does he know that Jason and the Red Hood are one and the same? How!" he demanded. He rushed over to the computer, typing quickly. A list of Arkham's inmates appeared on the screen.

"Dick…what time did the first inmate break out last night?" he asked.

"At 11:52 pm. The rest kind of straggled after that, the last escapee busting out at 5:28 this morning."

"And how many of those escapees are actually in Arkham right now?

"Uh…the Penguin, the Riddler…the Scarecrow, too…the rest are the minor ones, like the regular crazies that don't really have a vendetta against you. The ones who are free right now are Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Bane, Clayface, The Mad Hatter, Two-Face…uh…and Catwoman." Dick said.

Bruce's eyes narrowed as he stared at the computer, a red 'X' appearing over the picture of the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Scarecrow. Without a word, he stood up, pulling his cowl over his head.

"Then it looks like we've got some work to do." he said, standing and glancing at the clock. It was 9:13 pm. "Damian! Assuming Jason _is _poisoned…how long does he have?"

Damian quickly did the math in his head. "Since Poison Ivy would have wanted Todd dead, she probably added less chlorophyll so it turns into acid faster. She probably broke out between midnight and one am, meaning she would have needed some time to hunt Todd down. At the very earliest, it was administered at 2:00 am. So, I'd say…if he was poisoned, he had roughly 28 hours from the moment the poison entered his system. But it's 9:13 now, so…19 hours are already up. He would have about nine hours left if he _was _poisoned, but we don't know for sure." the fourth Robin concluded.

Tim shot a worried look over to his unmoving older brother, who appeared to have passed out. Dick looked away, thinking.

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "We'll have to assume he is until we find evidence against it. Dick, Tim, suit up. You're coming on patrol with me. We need to get the rest of the escapees back in Arkham. Poison Ivy should be our main target, in case she has an antidote."

Damian looked outraged. "What about me?"

Bruce gave his youngest son a once-over while Dick and Tim ran off to change. "You need to stay here an help Alfred try to make an antidote. Use some of the acid in that bucket to work something out."

Damian frowned. "I can help more as Robin, Father."

Bruce smiled. "You're needed here, Damian. Not only for the antidote, but what if Jason has the fear of being crazy or being a killer again? You saw how strong he was, to throw Tim at me. He might be able to escape on his own. Alfred wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him, either. Also, Jason might have tracers on him somewhere. You'd have to stop anyone who came in here looking to hurt him. Can I trust you to watch the house while we're gone?"

Damian stuck out his chest proudly. "Of course, Father. If anyone tries to break in here, they'll face the consequences."

Bruce placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "That's my boy." Tim reappeared in the Red Robin suit, with Nightwing following behind him. "We're splitting up. We've only got nine hours to get every escapee back in Arkham. Let's go."

Damian and Alfred watched as the Batmobile and Dick's motorcycle roared out of the garage, leaving silence in their wake. Finally, Alfred turned to Damian.

"If you wouldn't mind, Master Damian, please pass me that bucket? We have around half an hour before we'll need to move it to another container. It wouldn't do to let the acid get all over the floor, it'll take _ages_ to clean."


	5. 9:37 to 12:08

DJG: Yaaay, chapter five! Oh, and just because I forgot to do it at first, I own nothing except the plot! DC comics owns everything, the lucky hoecakes…

* * *

><p>Batman raced along rooftops, every sense focused to the max as he searched. So far, he had come up empty-handed. There was just nothing to find. Without warning, he heard the sounds of light footsteps following behind him.<p>

"H-hey! Wait for me, old man!" a hauntingly familiar voice called. Batman froze, turning around. No…it couldn't be…

A small boy, looking to be only ten or so, jumped out of the shadows, a grin on his face. Even behind the domino mask, Bruce could tell his eyes were narrowed mischievously. The black and yellow cape fluttered silently in the wind as Robin, the Boy Wonder, walked from the shadows. But…that style of costume…it couldn't be…

"…Jason?" Batman asked in disbelief.

The boy's face twisted into a snide smirk as he jumped into the air, flipping backwards as he landed on a higher part of the roof lightly, hardly making a sound. He sat, his green pointy shoes kicking back and forth idly as he stared down at the Dark Knight.

"Miss me, Batman?" he asked, the same teasing tone in his prepubescent voice as it had been nine years ago.

Bruce was stunned. It was impossible, and yet…

"You're dead." he stated, reigning in his emotions.

The ghost's smile disappeared suddenly. "Oh…well, then, would you prefer me to look the part?"

Without warning, the small boy aged until he was a young man, roughly nineteen, his costume changing drastically as well as his hair becoming shaggier and his overall appearance growing older.

Bruce froze, enthralled as he saw what his son could have been if he hadn't died, hadn't turned to more violent manners of cleaning up Gotham.

This Jason grinned again as his costume suddenly acquired several tears and became stained with blood. His jet black hair became matted with crimson and his domino mask was torn on one side, revealing a single piercing, blue eye that was almost swollen shut.

That same eye snapped Bruce out of it as he rushed forward, punching his second son in the face as hard as he could, sending him flying backwards several feet.

The ghost got shakily to his feet, staring up at Batman with furious eyes. "So…you figured it out, huh?" it spoke, mirroring Jason's voice exactly, down to the gruff way he spat out his words when he was annoyed.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Jason's eyes were green." he said simply, lunging at the fake, who suddenly morphed into a large, orange-skinned beast.

Clayface grinned. "I'll remember that, Batman…" he said, before changing into the older Jason again and doing a backflip off of the rooftop, landing skillfully in the street below without a sound.

Batman silently jumped after him, following Clayface as he continued to use the image of his second son to mock him.

"What's wrong, Daddy? You let me die, you should be _proud _to see what I've grown up to be!" Clayface taunted, managing to flawlessly imitate Jason's voice as he managed to get past Batman's guard and falcon-punch him across the face. The Dark Knight got to his feet quickly, using Batarangs to pin the fake Jason's cape to the wall. However, Clayface merely laughed and phased right through them, using a nearby light post to get to the roof of another building.

Batman gritted his teeth angrily, running along the street below him before leaping on top of a car to allow him to grab a fire escape's ladder and climb quickly, intercepting Clayface before he could get to the next roof.

"Looks like there's a few tricks you didn't get a chance to teach me, old man! Why's that?" the fake Jason asked, as his arm turned into a large hammer. He swung it violently in midair, smacking Batman backwards to another roof. The fake Jason landed, still glaring at his opponent as the hammer returned to an arm.

"Oh, that's right…it's because you _let me die!"_

Batman let out a cry of rage as he rushed forward, tackling the fake Jason and pinning him down as he began punching him over and over again.

"That...wasn't...my..._fault!"_

Suddenly, the teenager changed back into the ten-year-old Robin, his domino mask cracked and broken. His small hands weakly covered his injured face as he looked up at Batman with fearful eyes.

"_P-please_, Daddy…st-stop hitting m-me…!"

Bruce froze for a split second, just enough for Clayface to free himself, laughing as he returned to his regular form of an orange mud-like creature. "Pathetic, Batman…and I thought this would be difficult!"

Bruce cursed his own weakness, leaping up as he frantically thought of some way to defeat Clayface. An idea hit him, and he suddenly jumped from the building, heading for the fire station. The clay creature gave chase, changing into the fourteen year old Jason, before his death.

"You can't run from me, Dad…not after what you did!" the fake Jason called as they entered the garage of the fire station. Batman ran behind a fire truck, Clayface grumbling as he struggled to locate him.

"Daaaaddy! Where are y-"

Without warning, a powerful stream of water came from one of the truck's hoses, striking the fake Jason in the chest. He began screaming, his voice becoming mutated as he returned to the form of a clay monster, melting into liquid.

"Ahhhhhh! No, no n-aaaaaaah!" Clayface shrieked as he was washed away, down a sewage drain nearby. Soon, there was only silence, broken by the occasional drip of water from the hose.

Batman breathed a sigh of relief, disconnecting the hose from the fire hydrant. That fight had taken a lot out of him, not just physically, either. He quickly contacted Alfred.

"Al…mark down Clayface, we won't have to worry about him for awhile. How's Jason?" he asked.

"_Er…well, sir…he's…um…er…M-Miss Kyle, would you like to speak with Master Bruce?" _Alfred asked, moving away so that a young woman in a sleek black bodysuit and pink goggles could sit down.

"…Selina?" Bruce asked in surprise. Of all the people who could have shown up, Catwoman was the one he suspected the least.

"_Long time, no see, Bruce. Anyways, listen up, because this is important. I found out what the Joker's plan is. It's sort of a long story, though…"_

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "I'm listening…"

* * *

><p>Just after Batman had fought Clayface, Red Robin had managed to locate Two Face.<p>

"Oh, look, a little bird. Too bad it's not the one I'm looking for." Two Face had announced, pulling a gun from the inside of two-sided suit.

Tim grinned. "Sorry, Dent. Guess you'll just have to make due!" Without warning, he lunged at the former District Attorney, dodging a few widely aimed bullets. He pushed the other man to the ground, pinning the hand with the gun down. Two Face snarled, kicking Red Robin off of him and raising the gun once more.

Instead of firing at Tim, however, he fired at a nearby streetlight, causing sparks to fall and land on Tim's cape, igniting it. He reached for the quick-release, but before he could pull off the cape, Dent had reloaded and was firing again, causing him to use evasive maneuvers.

Finally, Tim couldn't ignore the flaming cape anymore and fumbled with the clasp, while Two Face aimed the gun and fired at Red Robin's feet.

Tim, finally having released the cape, jumped back, avoiding the bullet. He then froze as he felt nothing but air under his feet, reaching up for something, _anything _to grab to pull himself back onto the roof, but there was nothing there. With a small cry, he fell three stories to the street, landing hard on his back. He resisted the urge to scream as agony coursed through him, his wounded back arching in pain. Above him, Two Face came to stand at the edge of the building, his gun in his hand.

"Let's see…if this coin lands on heads, I'll leave you alone. If it's tails, you die!" Two Face said, smirking as he tossed the coin into the air.

Tim smiled to himself despite the pain as the coin flew high.

"What're you smiling about, kid? Don't you know I make my own luck?" Two Face demanded.

Tim winced as the coin began to descend. "Oh, it's n-nothing, it's just that…I do, too."

Without warning, a shadow appeared behind Two Face, before he was violently kicked in the spine by a merciless kick from behind. The horrified villain toppled from the roof he was on, hitting the ground heavily beside Tim, unconscious. The coin landing gracefully in the open palm of Tim's savior as he stepped out of the shadows.

From his position on the ground below, Tim couldn't see who it had been, but he managed to get to his feet, groaning as his injured back protested.

"That's twice now I've had to save your ass, Red. Time to get it in gear!" the Red Hood complained, jumping down from the roof to land by his little brother. Tim looked up at him in surprise…and fear. There was no way that Damian and Alfred had let Jason escape from the Manor…he looked like Jason…but almost any of the escapees could be fooling him.

Without warning, a second figure landed beside the first. Damian. He glanced at Tim, who was leaning heavily against the wall, before turning to 'Jason'.

"I'm only here because I severely need to hit something, and unless you've volunteering, let me be. Just remember I'm not here to drag your victims back to the Asylum." he announced, shooting Jason a dirty look."

The Red Hood shook his head. "Fine, then drag this one back to the Cave." he said, gesturing to Tim.

Both Tim and Damian were outraged.

"What? No! I'm fine, see?" Red Robin claimed, pushing away from the wall and barely managing to support his own weight. He stumbled once, feeling worthless. At least he knew this was the real Jason…

Red Hood shook his head. "You took a pretty solid hit, kid. It's fine, you can sit this one out with Selina and Alfred back at the Cave. Maybe help Al find an antidote, so, ya know, I don't _die_."

Tim stared at the ground, but nodded. He knew he was too banged up to keep fighting, no matter how badly he wanted to help.

"Okay then. Demon Child, for _once_ have a heart and take your brother back to the Cave. I'll be severely pissed if you don't…got it?" Jason asked. Damian gave him a look.

"Do you honestly think I'm irresponsible enough to leave a wounded comrade out in the field? Don't underestimate me, Hood! It's 11:42, by the way. You've got six and a half hours left."

Tim could tell that Jason was trying to ignore the countdown to his own demise. "I know _that_. Guess I better do something useful with 'em, then. Take Red Robin back to the Cave and go to my old apartment. I've got a few toys you might like there. He'll give you the address." With that said, he vanished into the shadows, limping visibly. Apparently his burns were still giving him trouble.

Damian reluctantly threw Tim's arm over his shoulder, half-dragging him over to the Batmobile, disguised as a dumpster. He helped Tim inside before practically sprinting over to the driver's seat.

Tim looked over weakly. "…you know Dad's gonna kill you, right?"

Damian kept his face impassively neutral as he carefully disconnected the wires that led to Autopilot. "What do you mean, Drake? Somehow Autopilot was disabled, and you're obviously too injured to drive, so I had to make do with what we've got. Is that so bad?"

Tim gave a smile chuckle as Damian threw the Batmobile into reverse, backing out of the alley at speeds that definitely weren't legal, before shifting into drive and shooting through the streets of Gotham towards the Manor.

* * *

><p>Right before everyone had left the Cave, Jason had woken up, mostly free from the influence of the fear toxin. It would be a few days before it was out of his system completely. But, because he had eavesdropped on the Bats' conversation by feigning unconsciousness, a skill he had been taught to perfect years ago, he had learned he just didn't <em>have<em> that kind of time. They were guessing _nine_ hours before he died, assuming he had been poisoned. Nine hours was nothing. Nine hours was 540 minutes. Nine hours was 32,400 seconds. 32,399. 32,398. It just kept ticking downward.

He _knew_ he was poisoned. The Demon Child had mentioned the symptoms were being nauseous with headaches, and he had felt slightly ill all day, even before the acid spilled on him. And if he didn't do something about it, he was going to _die. _So, as soon as Nightwing, Red Robin, and Batman left, he tried to sit up, only to be held down by the restraints.

"Master Jason? Are you all right?" Alfred asked, concern in his voice.

Jason winced as his leg burned. "I'll be fine once you untie me from this fuckin' thing…"

Alfred shook his head as he began to finish what Bruce had started-cleaning Jason's wound. "I'm afraid I can't do that. Master Wayne has given me strict orders to keep you here until he returns."

Jason scowled, falling silent while Alfred finally wrapped his leg in bandages, standing up. "There. That should help. I applied a salve that should help relieve the burning, but it's best you stay off your feet."

Suddenly, a female voice spoke up. "Trying to keep a caged bird from wanting to fly, Alfred? That won't accomplish much." Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, entered the room, her footsteps completely silent.

Alfred's face grew confused. "M-Miss Selina? What brings you here so late at night?"

She strolled forward, mostly ignoring Jason and Damian. "I heard about the Joker's game from Ivy. I was all ready to play, too…until I heard one of the targets was Jason. I played along, and managed to overhear the Joker's plan…he's already carried out the first part."

Damian grew a look of annoyance. "Well, what is it?"

She tsked, her sleek black bodysuit barely making a sound as she placed a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowing behind her pink goggles. "I don't see why you need to know, but…yesterday, the Joker managed to convince Poison Ivy to sneak a gallon of an acid/drug called Stinger into Gotham's water supply. The whole city has taken it in by now. Luckily, most heroes don't drink the city's water for reasons like this. In its diluted form, Stinger doesn't kill right away, it-"

Jason interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, we know the deal. I'm already dosed with the stuff. Any idea what the antidote is?"

Catwoman said nothing, staring at the floor.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. And you people _seriously_ expect me to sit around here waiting to die? 'Cause I don't think Talia's going to be so kind as to chuck me into another Lazarus Pit this time!"

Damian looked thoughtful at this.

Catwoman spoke up again. "The next part of his plan is to use Jason or the Red Hood as bait to lure everyone in the Bat family to Pier 31...then, he's going to kill him unless Batman tells the public _he_ was the one who put the poison in the water supply, to wipe out all the evil in the city at once. Then, the Joker plans on marketing a cure that'll make him famous from everyone in Gotham buying it. With their own lives on the line, the people will pay _any _price."

Alfred sighed, turning back to the computer. "Miss Selina, we need to get this information to Master Bruce. If you please…?" he asked, gesturing to the chair. Soon, both of them were distracted.

Damian took his chance and silently slipped over to Jason, undoing the straps as silently as possible. Soon, he was free. The youngest Robin locked eyes with Jason, before nodding solemnly.

They both bolted for the stairs at the same time, Jason still managing to run faster than Damian despite his injured leg. Before Alfred could do anything, they had both slipped past the clock, shutting it with a loud slam.

Selina sighed. "Let them go." she said, turning back to the computer as Batman's face appeared on the screen.

Alfred sighed, before doing the same. Now he got to explain to Bruce how he had let his most rebellious children escape…_fun._

* * *

><p>Damian ran out of his room quickly, clad in his full Robin gear. Jason, not having a spare Red Hood costume at the Manor, decided to steal some of Dick's clothes for now. Most of it was way too bright and cheerful for him, but he managed to locate a black leather jumpsuit, and a pair of matching combat boots. If only Dick had a leather jacket that wasn't too small to wear over the jumpsuit…oh, well. Now all he needed was a red domino mask…but where would he find something like that?<p>

Damian abruptly handed him one, his face twisting into a grimace. Confused, Jason accepted it, noticing it was a bit smaller than his regular one. Obviously, it had been designed for someone younger.

"…I thought a red mask would look better with my costume, okay?" Damian spat, before making to jump out of Dick's window. He was stopped by a hand tugging at his cape.

"Oh, no you don't, kid. You've obviously got a lot to learn. Follow me." Jason said, slipping out of Dick's room to move up the stairs to the second floor, where he carefully fiddled with the doorknob of a dusty door Damian had never entered. Finally, it clicked open, Jason opening the door wide enough for the younger boy to see inside.

The room was covered in a thin layer of dust, except for the bed. The covers had been thrown back, small dark stains tarnishing the white surface of the sheets. The last time anyone had been in here was when Jason had been shot in the warehouse at Pier 31...the time before that, when Jason had been fourteen, before he had died.

The room wasn't messy, but it wasn't clean either. It looked lived in, even though it was clearly not.

"Is this…?" Damian began, although he already knew the answer.

"Yeah. This was my room." Jason stated, before carefully unlocking the window and opening it wide.

Damian wrinkled his nose. "Why can't we go out Dick's window?"

Jason grinned wolfishly. "Because then you can't do…this!" Without warning, he jumped out the window, sliding down the shingles as if he was surfing. He somehow managed to remain standing throughout all of this, ducking around dormers as gravity carried him towards the edge…and a sheer drop-off. As soon as he was about to go over the edge, he leaped into the air, performing a backflip that _had _to have been for show as he flew through the air as if he was actually flying. He had obviously done this before many times.

Damian watched in stunned disbelief as Jason somehow managed to clear the massive gorge between the house and the road, landing safely in a crouch, before standing and waving Damian to follow.

"I cannot _believe_ I'm doing this…" Damian murmured, backing up a bit before jumping out the window as well. He managed to remain standing as well, but as he was about to leap, the shingle under one of his feet snapped. It was too late for him to grab the roof, so he tried to go with inertia and cross the gap the way Jason had. Right as it looked like he would make it, he realized he was going to just fall short. He reached up desperately, hoping to snag the edge…

And instead snagged a gloved hand.

Jason winced, still managing to smirk down at Damian despite the pain from his leg that was protesting against supporting the both of them.

"How's it hangin', Demon Child?" he asked, laughing as Damian's scared face abruptly changed to an extremely pissed off face.

"Now is _not_ the time for jokes, Todd! Pull me up, or I'll-!"

"Or you'll what? Dangle there helplessly?"

"…"

"Okay, okay. Geez." Jason grumbled, dragging Damian up onto firm land. The youngest Robin got to his feet with as much dignity as he could muster, wiping dirt from his costume.

"That was unnecessarily dangerous. I'll never do it again." Damian vowed. Jason just shook his head, laughing.

"The trick is in the backflip, y'know." When Damian simply gave him a look, Jason shrugged. "Fine, whatever, kid. Let's go."

With that, the two disappeared into the darkness of Gotham's streets.

* * *

><p>"And that's how we found you, Drake." Damian explained, looking over that the passenger seat. To his annoyance, Tim seemed to have fallen asleep.<p>

"Hmph."


	6. 12:42 to 6:00

DJG: Chapter six, anyone?

* * *

><p>Jason quickly made his way to his old apartment, simply kicking the door open to get to his stash. He made his way to the bedroom. Behind the doorframe, there was a small indentation in the wall. He pulled a key from out of a drawer, sliding it into the small indentation and turning it, the wall opening up to reveal a case filled with various makes and styles of guns. His favorites were gone, as far as he knew, but he had backups.<p>

Jason grabbed the nearest handgun, a small .44 Magnum and inspected it. There was a long scratch on the side where a enemy's bullet had gotten lucky. His regular pistols were twin .500 Smith and Wessons, but those were extremely expensive, even to him. He only had three, his two favorites, and then one that had accidentally been damaged long ago and he hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet. The inside of the barrel was melted shut, not visible from the outside unless you were very good with firearms. If it was fired now, it would probably explode.

As he started to leave his apartment, he inspected his Red Hood helmet that was sitting on the table. Even though the paint had been melted off, the acid seemed to have fused the blood from the man who had attacked him that morning _into_ the metal, leaving it a crimson color that Jason was extremely impressed with.

He pulled it on, grabbing his spare leather jacket and side-holsters as he did so, sick of the bodysuit already. It restricted his movement more than he'd like, and it was friggin' _hot. _He also took a few minutes to wash the paint out of his hair, the white patch remaining a dull gray. It wasn't perfect, but it might wash out eventually.

Jason then stormed out the door, armed with his replacement handguns, a .44 Magnum, a .454 Casull, and a rifle slung over his shoulder, an AR-15. The AR-15 wasn't anything special, but it would be able to drop a man from a reasonable distance if need be. The only difference in the replacement pistols was that they were a bit weaker and the handles were much shorter, both guns completely disappearing from view as soon as he slid them into the holsters.

As he exited his apartment, he noticed the corpse of the man who had tried to shoot him that morning had vanished. It was there when he went in only five minutes ago.

"Any reason you didn't want to play with three birdies instead of one?" Jason called out to the darkness.

The huge, bulking figure of Bane suddenly appeared, the light from the Venom in the tubes leading to the back of the assassin's head glowing faintly.

"My apologies, Red Hood. I saw no reason to attack the other two, as they are not my target. You are. I _will _have that reward." Bane stated, before throwing the man's body at Jason. He leaped backwards, avoiding Bane's attack and reaching for his pistols at his sides-

Oh, wait.

The mistake of thinking he still had his old pistols with the longer handles would cost him, as Bane took advantage of his pause and grabbed Jason roughly, throwing him into a wall by his hair.

The second Robin groaned, getting to his feet. Yup. Time to get it cut.

"C'mon, Bane…are you really gonna start pulling hair? Do you know how freaking wussy that is?" Jason asked, smirking at the way Bane's eyes narrowed.

More Venom suddenly began pumping, causing Bane to grow larger, buffer, and angrier. The man's eyes were glowing green behind the mask. He promptly grabbed a street light out of the ground with a large portion of cement still welded around the end, swinging it at Jason's head. The former Boy Wonder quickly ducked, managing to avoid what could have been a fatal blow.

"Well, so much for being taken alive…" Jason murmured, thinking that Bane truly meant to kill him. But, he had mentioned claiming the reward… Jason's eyes widened as he realized that since Bane was constantly changing size and power levels…_he didn't know his own strength. _That was his weakness. He was momentarily glad for the body armor in Dick's jumpsuit as he allowed Bane to strike him in the ribs with the pole, knocking the wind out of him as he smacked roughly into the wall. Ooh…that hurt _bad_. Probably busted a couple ribs. Not his best idea.

Jason lay limply facedown in the street, Bane cautiously dropping the pole and approaching him. He was lifted into the air by the handle of his rifle, his whole body limp as he was completely off of the ground. He could smell the Venom, stinking and green, as Bane got close to inspect him more carefully, a large hand wrapping around the front of Jason's helmet. He took his chance and slid a Batarang he had found in Dick's suit into one hand and grasped the tube going into the back of Bane's head with the other. Before the assassin could react, Jason sliced it open, cursing as some of the Venom spilled onto his hand. He wished now, more than ever that he had thought to grab his gloves, but he had deemed them unimportant. Now, if he survived Ivy's poison, he would have to suffer through withdrawal.

Luckily, for now, the Venom would temporarily boost his muscle strength. He'd need all the help he could get if he was going to find Poison Ivy.

On the ground, Bane began writhing and screaming as he lost his strength, before finally passing out. Jason took out his cell phone, sending the address to Bruce as he started to walk away. It was 3:37 am. Three hours left.

Suddenly, a familiar female silhouette appeared over the moon as she jumped to another rooftop, the silhouette of Nightwing hot on her heels. Jason made a face as he silently followed them. It might be best, for now, to hang back and see just what Dick Grayson could do to get Ivy to talk.

However, instead of climbing up to the roof as he wanted to, he began running down the street in the opposite direction, towards the harbor.

"_What the-?"_ Jason thought, wondering why he couldn't control himself. His eyesight was beginning to blur.

And then it came to him.

He knew he had left his helmet in the tub with the remains of the acid, but he had found it on the table. Meaning _someone_ had been in his apartment. And what escapee did he know of that both specialized in mind control _and _had an obsession with hats, helmets, and the like?

"Mad Hatter…" Jason managed to gasp, before he completely lost control of himself.

* * *

><p>Tim grumbled complaints into the pillow as Catwoman continued working pressure points on his back. As soon as Damian had returned to the Cave, Alfred had laid the injured teen down onto the same bed Jason had been strapped to earlier, his stomach down as Selina began inspecting the damage.<p>

"You'll survive, it's only been badly bruised. I can manipulate pressure points enough to get you through tonight if you really want to. I'd recommend bed rest for a few days after this, though." she said, finishing up. Tim cautiously got to his feet, expecting pain, but was surprised when he found none. He bent forward, and felt no pain. He bent backwards…nothing.

"Whoa! That's awesome! Thanks, Selina!" he said gratefully, before the computer lit up, Batman's face on it.

"_We've got a problem, Alfred…since no one can find Jason, they're all targeting the Red Hood…I found Bane unconscious on a street, but that still leaves Poison Ivy, Two Face, and the Mad Hatter."_

Tim smirked proudly, moving over so his father would be able to see him. "Jason, Damian, and I took care of Two Face, so scratch him off the list."

Batman looked concerned to see Tim in the Cave at all. _"Tim! Why aren't you out on patrol?"_

The third Robin chuckled weakly. "Well, uh…about that. Two Face kinda messed me up a little, but I'm fine now! Besides, you said everyone was going after Red Hood…what you need is a decoy!"

Batman's eyes widened. _"Tim, no. Stay at the Cave until I can make sure you're alright!"_

But before either Alfred or Selina could stop him, Tim had raced upstairs, a plan forming in his head as he searched for Jason's discarded Batman shirt and the hair dye.

* * *

><p>Nightwing raced faster and faster across the roof, Poison Ivy gasping for breath as she began to slow. Dick, resourceful as always, pulled two Batarangs connected with a thin wire out of his belt, throwing them so they would catch around Ivy's ankles. A vine came out of nowhere and intercepted it, however.<p>

Ivy leaped from the roof, hitting the ground hard as she changed directions, heading for the harbor. Nightwing was on her in a flash, trailing behind her closely, but not close enough.

It didn't help that plants were tugging at his ankles, trying in vain to pull him down. He simply pumped his legs harder, tearing roots from the dirt from the force. There were only three hours left before Jason would die, and he was determined to stop that from happening.

Not only did he like the idea of having _three _little brothers, but he knew Bruce wouldn't be able to handle burying Jason a second time. Frankly, he wasn't sure if any of them could.

Ivy ducked around a corner once she reached the ocean, climbing a large tower with two sets of stairs. Gotham City's water tower. The same water tower that was chock full of Stinger in its diluted form. More plants began growing rapidly around the bars of the stairs so that Nightwing would have more problems climbing, but he merely pulled his grappling hook from his utility belt and fired at the top of the water tower, shooting up after her.

The green-skinned botanist had opened the door that led down into the water, but stopped what she was doing as Nightwing landed behind her.

"Let's finish this!" Dick snapped, lunging at her. To his immense frustration, he was grabbed out of the air by several large plants that wrapped around his arms and legs, pinning him in place.

"Oh, yes, I agree. It's time to end this; I'm tired of waiting around! Enough of the Joker's so called 'master plan'…Gotham dies today!" she announced, revealing a large watering can.

Dick's eyes widened. "Is that…?"

Ivy grinned. "Oh, yes. Three gallons of Stinger in its pure form. More than enough to kill everyone in Gotham three times over."

Nightwing struggled to get free of the plants, twisting but ultimately getting nowhere. "But…what about marketing the antidote?" he asked.

Poison Ivy snarled. "There's no way to make enough of it to cure everyone in Gotham without killing me, because the chlorophyll in my skin _is _the antidote! Even a small piece will save hundreds of lives, but at what cost to _me? _The Joker had planned a double-cross to get what he wants, but now it's _my _turn to call the shots! Now, I think I'll just toss you in the water tower; the Stinger will be enough to kill you instantly, poor boy."

Suddenly, gunshots rang out, striking the watering can, the Stinger dripping on the floor of the platform Ivy and Nightwing were standing on and melting right through it with a loud hissing noise.

Nightwing turned to see who had fired the shots, and froze. The Red Hood was standing on the roof of a building a few hundred feet away, two pistols in his hands. To his immense surprise, he could see a man in a blue suit and a ridiculous hat standing just behind him.

The Mad Hatter.

"Hood! The Mad Hatter's behind you! Get him!" Dick cried, unable to believe Jason wouldn't have noticed him already.

Silence, broken only by the Mad Hatter laughing loudly.

"The only thing he's going to get is my reward! In one and a half hours, the game will be over, and I'll be the winner!" the Hatter announced.

Dick's eyes narrowed behind his domino mask as he watched his brother. So Jason was being manipulated by the Hatter…it _had _to have something to do with his helmet.

"No, you won't!" a different voice suddenly called from the ground. Everyone looked to the direction it had come from, Dick freezing as he saw a _second_ Jason Todd, this one clad in the outfit he had disguised himself in earlier- a Batman shirt, jeans, hair over one eye, the works. Then he looked closer. The sheen on his black hair…it was too bright. It had been died, and quickly, at that. A gust of wind moved the other Jason's hair out of his face just enough for Nightwing to see that this wasn't an imitation of Jason Todd, this was _Tim_ in disguise!

"You have to have both of us to win, right? Well, here I am!" Tim said, staring up at the Mad Hatter.

The Hatter frowned, looking from Jason to Tim and back again. "Hmm…well, I suppose I _do _need a White Rabbit to go with my lovely new Cheshire Cat…catch him!" he demanded, Jason jumping from the roof instantly. The Red Hood, or 'Cheshire Cat', as Hatter had called him, landed in front of Tim, who promptly skipped back and around him, slowly making his way up the ladder-like stairs of the water tower.

The Hatter was furious. "Follow the White Rabbit!" he commanded, stomping his feet angrily.

Jason did, firing a few shots up towards Tim, who managed to duck away from them.

Dick, however, moved towards them, allowing the stray bullets to cut the vines from his left arm. He then quickly tore the rest of the plants away, lunging at Poison Ivy, who had been distracted by Tim's arrival.

Tim looked behind him as he reached the top of the ladder, seeing no one behind him.

_"Did I outrun him?"_ he asked himself, before he was suddenly grabbed by the front of his shirt and lifted from the ground, held over the edge by his brainwashed brother.

* * *

><p>Seeing Tim run from the Cave from his end of the communicator, Batman immediately began running towards Pier 31. As luck would have it, he was on the other side of Gotham from the harbor.<p>

"_I have GOT to get there in time!"_ he thought frantically as he saw Dick's motorcycle parked in an alley. He quickly disabled the traps on it and started it, racing towards his sons as fast as the powerful motorcycle could go.

He would not fail them. None of them.

Not again.

Never again.

One of the clocks mounted on the bank he had just raced past rang for 6:00 am.

* * *

><p>Tim stared into the soulless white eyes of the Red Hood mask, realizing he was going to either be killed by his brother or used as bait to get his father to claim he was a killer.<p>

Honestly, he didn't like either idea.

"H-Hood! Stop!" he yelled, his brother continuing to stare at him blankly.

The Mad Hatter grinned, judging the distance between Jason and Tim and the ground below.

"It's probably not far enough to kill him…go ahead and throw him down the rabbit hole, Cheshire!"

Jason's hand quivered for a moment, but did not let go. Tim's hands scrambled for a hold on his brother's arm, hoping that even if he was dropped, he could at least hang onto _something._

"H-Hood! Don't let go!" Dick cried, torn between attacking Ivy and saving his brother.

Hatter's eyes narrowed in puzzlement as Jason continued to ignore him. "Cheshire? Did you hear me? I said drop him!"

Without warning, Damian appeared behind the crazed man, imitating the kick Jason had performed on Two Face to perfection, the Mad Hatter landing in a heap on the other side of the roof. Damian then raised a firearm he had clearly found in Jason's apartment-an RPG launcher. Poison Ivy's plants were nearly covering the entire water tower.

Damian pulled the trigger, a huge grin on his face.

There was a massive explosion as the RPG easily tore through plant matter and metal alike, revealing the entire water supply of Gotham as if a giant swimming pool had been built into the top of the tower. The RPG had completely blown the top part of the water tower into the ocean below, leaving an open half circle bowl. Dick was blasted off the edge, just barely managing to grab a plant to keep from plummeting to the ground below.

"Hey! Watch it, will ya?" he complained.

Jason's balance was shaken by the explosion, but he didn't fall or drop Tim.

Tim grinned despite his current predicament. "Robin! You showed up!"

Damian scoffed, leaning casually against the weapon of mass destruction. It was nearly as tall as he was. Then again, Damian was short for a twelve-year-old anyway.

"Pssh. Somebody has to make sure you three don't do something idiotic while Batman's not here."

The Mad Hatter weakly struggled to sit up, hate and rage burning in his eyes as he watched what was happening. He pushed a button on his hat, before standing and screaming to make sure he was heard.

"Red Hood! Take your pistol and shoot yourself in the head! If I can't win the game, no one can!"

Tim, Dick, and even Damian's eyes all widened as Jason's grip on Tim slackened, the younger boy falling into thin air as Jason calmly pulled his .44 Magnum from his holster, cocked it, put it to his temple, and fired point blank.

* * *

><p>Batman could see rays of sunlight appearing over the horizon, forcing more horsepower out of the engine. He was <em>so close, <em>he couldn't slow down now!

The sound of a gunshot coming from the harbor just ahead of him chilled him to the bone.


	7. 6:30 to X:XX

DJG: Last chapter, woot! Thanks for bearing with me, guys!

* * *

><p>Tim's whole world seemed to slow down as Dick jumped after him, using one of Ivy's vines in a sort of acrobatic maneuver to grab his little brother's ankle before he could fall any farther. Tim gasped as he suddenly stopped falling, looking up at his savior. He froze in horror as Jason's gun suddenly fell from the top of the tower, his upside-down position preventing him from seeing what had become of his <em>other <em>older brother.

He heard an unmistakable thump that could only be caused by a body hitting the ground.

Damian was absolutely manic as he roughly pummeled the Mad Hatter into unconsciousness.

"You _killed_ him! You murdering _scum! _You absolute _filth! _That wasn't_ fair, _you lowlife bastard!"

Dick gritted his teeth, staring at the prone form of his little brother. Jason's helmet had been blown to pieces, and was lying around him. His face was turned away from Dick, the gun in his hand glinting as the sun shone brightly on all of the boys. The sun had fully risen, meaning it was now 6:30 am.

Poison Ivy cackled madly. "Looks like I win, after all! Everyone in Gotham will die in a few hours, no matter what! I may be the antidote, but I can still be _poison!"_

Jason's body shuddered weakly, before suddenly curling into a crouched position. His helmet was more than capable of protecting him from bullet wounds. He knew this from experience. Jason looked up furiously, eyes still glowing faintly green from the effects of Venom. Other than that, he looked uninjured. Suddenly, he flinched, hacking blood into his hand. The poison was taking effect, and they both knew it.

Poison Ivy's eyes widened. "Y-you're still going to die, no matter what you do!" she protested, as if that would stop Jason from standing up shakily, his piercing green eyes staring her down.

"Doesn't mean I can't take _you_ with me! My time's up…but I can still do something even my father would be proud of!" he said firmly, before suddenly tackling the green-skinned botanist before she had time to react, both of them falling past the barrier and into the acidic water below.

"_Jason, no!"_

Four voices combined into one as Batman finally climbed to the top of the tower, staring down at the poison in disbelief.

"N-no…I'm too late…I failed_ again_…"

Dick's eyes widened as he realized the implications of what Jason had done. The chlorophyll in Poison Ivy's skin was the antidote that would purify the water and reverse the acidity of the water all of Gotham City had drank.

By sacrificing himself, Jason had saved the 3.2 million people living in Gotham single-handedly.

Damian had made his way over to the tower, where Poison Ivy's plants began to wither and die. Dick slowly helped Tim get a good grip, before they made their way to the top, too.

Bruce was frozen, unable to accept it. "Jason…Jason…no, no, no…Jason, you're okay…you're a good swimmer…come on…please…please, Jason…don't do this…no…not again…"

Dick put a hand on his father's shoulder. "Batman…Bruce, he's gone. I'm…I'm _so_ sorry…I should have done _something _to-"

"No. This is-" Bruce began.

Tim's eyes had begun filling with angry tears. "Shut up, Bruce. It's not your fault. It's _mine. _If I hadn't been so stupid…if I hadn't tried so hard to help…if I would have stayed behind at the Cave, Dick would have been able to save Jason and he wouldn't…he wouldn't be…!"

Dick squeezed his eyes shut and hugged his little brother as Tim began to sob into his chest, Damian slumping to Nightwing's other side as he lost the will to remain standing. Finally, Bruce embraced all three of them, his cloak pooling around them as the Bat family mourned.

* * *

><p>Harley Quinn stared at the screen in surprise, horrified as she watched her best friend die with Jason Todd. "B-but, puddin'…why didn't we go down to Pier 31 at 6:30 like you <em>said? <em>Why did you let Ivy get _killed?"_

The Joker, for once, was not smiling. He was completely serious, and that was what made him dangerous. His eyes flashed as he stared at the screen, wondering what the Bat family's mourning sounded like. There was no sound to the cameras.

"Do you have any idea what my _real _goal was? Hmm? It had nothing to do with money, or murdering Gotham, or even discrediting Batman! That boy…Jason Todd…he pulled off a magic trick I can never top…he rose from the dead! And for that, he had to go."

Harley sniffed sadly, tucking her knees under her chin as she mourned at the same time as the Bats, only for a different person.

"It's over now. Everything can go back to normal. That boy…he was disturbing the balance. I shouldn't have to kill _anyone _more than once…it's unnatural. Now, c'mon. Lose the long face and let's go. We've got a vacation in the Bahamas waiting for us, puddin'!"

Harley nodded slowly. "Lemme go pack...I left a few things at my apartment. I'll be back in an hour, kay, Mistah Jay?"

**Epilogue**

Jason's second funeral was much larger than his first. Heroes had come from far and wide, hearing of Batman's dead son returning to life and then sacrificing himself to save Gotham. Superman and Wonder Woman in particular were very sympathetic, knowing from the first time Bruce had gone through this pain. The pain no parent should ever have to feel, let alone twice.

The pain of burying their child.

Bruce had contacted Ra's Al Ghul immediately after Jason's death, literally begging him for help in bringing Jason back, but had been let down.

"I'm very sorry, Bruce, but without a body, there's just nothing to be done for him. I think…he truly is at rest, now. Be happy for him."

But Bruce didn't want to feel _happy_. Not when he had started to regain his lost son, only to have him torn from his grasp once again by a cruel twist of fate. He had searched the water tower three days after the incident, but had found nothing.

Tim had stopped spending much time outside of the Manor, even to go on patrol. He usually had dark circles under his eyes, and whenever he was in the Cave, he found his eyes drawn to the memorial of the first time Jason died.

Dick felt sick when he saw Tim do that, because it was like watching Bruce do it all over again. The original Boy Wonder could do nothing else but to take it one day at a time as he watched his family waste away. But the most painful thing, in his opinion, was that Jason would never know how big of an impact he truly made on their family.

Damian in particular refused to talk to anyone about Jason's death, claiming it didn't bother him that much because people died all the time and there was no point being upset about it when Jason had died a hero. Still, almost every night at the same time, Damian could be heard at the window of Jason's room, trying over and over again to perfect the move his big brother had showed him. He wasn't perfect at it, as he had never actually made it to the other side without assistance from a rope he had tied around his waist, the other end around one of the legs of what had once been Jason's bed.

More times than he'd like to admit, he found himself smacking the side of the house as he failed to make it over the gap.

* * *

><p>A week after Jason's death, after a particularly trying day that involved a violent argument with Dick, Tim breaking down and crying, and Bruce and Alfred trying in vain to stop the chaos, Damian decided to try the move without a rope.<p>

He didn't bother wearing his Robin suit as he began the slide down as he had many times before. He reached the point that he always jumped at and allowed it to pass, remembering Jason had waited until he got to the very edge of the roof to attempt to leap the gorge.

He jumped, hearing a snap as a shingle broke under his foot much as it had that night seven days ago. And then Damian was doing a backflip in the air, even though he had no reason to.

_"The trick is in the backflip, y'know."_

It took a few minutes for him to register that he was standing on firm ground. Damian looked around in surprise, realizing he had done the jump flawlessly for the first time.

"Hmph...I guess he was right." Damian murmured, before slowly beginning the slow trek back up to the Manor. A part of him was almost disappointed that he had conquered the move, as he had practically considered it a personal challenge.

When he walked in, however, he was surprised to see Bruce standing, a shocked look on his face as he clutched the phone in his grasp. Alfred, startled by Bruce's reaction to whoever was on the other line, was watching him curiously, as was Dick and Tim, who were lounging on opposite sides of the couch.

"A-Are you _sure?_ He said his name is Peter _Myotis?_ Yes, yes, he's my nephew, I was just making sure...mm hmm...we can come _now?_ Yes, of course! We'll be there as soon as possible...thank you for the call."

He received several strange looks from the rest of his family as he released the phone, letting it hit the floor.

"That...that was the hospital...they called because my 'nephew' is ready to be released...and he's been complaining that they won't let him smoke. They...they described him as 6 feet and 180 pounds of trouble because he tried to strangle his roommate with the cords of his hospital gown because he started making fun of his hair for being black _and_ white."

Dick's eyes were wide. "Oh, my God...it's Jaybird, isn't it?"

Bruce gave a ghost of a smile. "Well, seeing as the alias he gave was Jason's middle name and the genus of several species of _bats_, well..."

Tim's dull eyes lit up for the first time in several days. "He's _alive_!" His boundless energy, which had been mysteriously absent for the past week, came back full-force as he dragged everyone out the door at the same time, even Alfred.

"What're you guys _waiting_ for, let's _go!"_

* * *

><p>Jason grumbled various curse words as he shifted his position in the bed, frustrated.<p>

"Can I get out of this goddamn thing yet?" he called to the nurse out in the hall, who ignored him.

His redheaded roommate, a man named Roy Harper who was in the hospital with a few infected injuries that had been caused by arrow wounds in his shoulder, looked up from the magazine he was reading with a smirk on his face.

"You have to wait until you're released, Bat-Brat. Just feel lucky that you don't have to stay longer; apparently your internal organs were almost shut down by that stuff...what the hell were you doing drinking bleach, idiot?"

Jason made a face. "I thought it was water, okay? It was in a clear glass." He obviously couldn't tell a civilian that he wasn't retarded enough to drink straight bleach. Still, it was only dumb luck that he got a roommate that knew 'Myotis' was the genus name for roughly 30 different species of bats.

Thus, the nickname 'Bat-Brat'.

Jason had also revealed his first name to Roy, not giving an explanation for why he felt the need to use a fake name. Roy didn't ask, either.

"By the way, how the hell did you get shot with _arrows?"_ Jason scoffed.

Roy frowned. "I got in a fight with my fa...a friend of mine. He found out I'm doing heroin and...well...he didn't want me around anymore. I'm sticking around here as long as possible because I don't have anywhere else to crash."

Jason arched an eyebrow. "So he _shot _you because of the heroin thing? That's harsh."

Roy grinned slyly. "Yeah, no kidding. If I would have known they'd stick me with _you _as a roommate, I would have quit that shit _yesterday!"_

He then got to dodge Jason's food tray that was suddenly flying at his head. The redhead cursed as corn and half of a turkey sandwich covered his hair and lap.

"Oh, man, you're _sooo_ dead!" he said, smirking wolfishly as he abruptly began scooping handfuls of food off of his own tray and flinging them across the room. Jason winced as a well-aimed portion of mashed potatoes smacked him in the face, using his good leg to kick over his own IV so that it walloped Roy over the head. The redhead retaliated by pushing the stand with Jason's heart monitor in between them to act as a shield, the heavy screen toppling over and landing right on top of the dark-haired teen's bandaged stomach by accident.

Jason let out a small gasp of pain and went limp as the heart monitor suddenly flatlined.

Roy's eyes widened as he leaped from his bed, concern in his eyes.

"Oh my God, Jason! Shit! Shit! I killed him! Oh my God, I'm so fucking screwed! Dammit, don't do this to me, they'll kick my ass!" Roy cried, moving the monitor away.

A hand suddenly pulled at the collar of his hospital gown, pouring the entirety of a small carton of milk down Roy's chest.

"You-! How the hell did-?" Roy demanded as he recoiled, rubbing at the cold liquid as Jason sat up, laughing. In one of the former Robin's hands was the end of a cord.

"You unplugged it when you shoved it over, idiot! I can't believe you fell for that!" Jason was shaking from how hard he was laughing.

Suddenly, a nurse walked in. "What is all the noise out-oh my God! Look at this mess!" she shrieked, surveying the knocked over IV and heart monitor, food all over the walls and ceiling as well as on both of the room's occupants, and then glared at Roy who was still standing, a huge stain from the milk down his front.

"You!"

Roy's eyes widened as he realized he was in deep trouble. "Me!" he squeaked.

"Bed. NOW!" the nurse practically hissed, before storming out of the room.

Roy mumbled angry threats under his breath, crawling back into the bed that was now soiled with food. "Great...they won't change these sheets forever! Lucky bastard, you don't have to take a nap in _gravy_...Jesus Christ..." He roughly slid the curtain around his bed shut.

There was suddenly the faint sounds of feet pounding down the hallway.

"C'mon, hurry up!" an impatient voice called.

"Slow down, Tim! You shouldn't run through a hospital!" a slightly scolding tone responded.

"Hmph. The sooner Drake finds him, the sooner we can go _home._ I _hate _hospitals!" a young voice complained.

"I say, Master Bruce, wouldn't it be more prudent to simply inquire to one of the staff as to where the young master is?" an elderly voice laced with an English accent asked.

"Nah, Alfred. I think they're having fun using the 'stick their heads in every room until they find him' technique." a slightly gruff person said with a surprisingly cheerful tone.

And then Tim's head poked into the room, scanning as he inspected the only visible occupant curiously. Then...

"Jason! You're okay!" Tim cried, practically tackling him as he threw his arms around him in a tight hug. Jason looked surprised, but awkwardly patted the younger boy on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't freak out."

Tim grinned widely. "Everyone thought you were dead! We had a huge funeral for you and everything! A _ton _of superheroes came to pay their respects! Even Superman and Wonder Woman showed up!" he chattered happily, before suddenly frowning and slapping Jason across the face.

"What the hell, Replacement?" Jason demanded. The slap hadn't hurt, but it had startled him. He didn't remember Tim being bipolar...

"That's for jumping into a lake of freaking acid, you _idiot_! You could've figured out a way to push Ivy in without trying to commit suicide too!" Tim grumbled. Jason's eyes widened as Roy suddenly poked his head out from behind the curtain.

"You...you're the one who saved Gotham by killing that plant chick? That means...you're the second Robin?" he asked incredulously.

Jason shot a look at Tim. "You guys _told _people?"

Tim shrugged helplessly. "Sorry! It was Bruce's idea, everyone started saying he had saved the city, but he gave you the credit as 'the second Robin'. Relax, no one knows your identity or anything."

Suddenly, Dick poked his head into the room. "Tim! We're supposed to be looking for-oh! Jaybird! You're okay! He's in here, guys!" Nightwing's eyes suddenly fell on Roy, widening in surprise.

"...Arsenal?"

Roy's eyes met the former Boy Wonder's. "Dick! Hey, long time no see!"

Jason made a face. "You guys know each other?"

Dick shrugged. "Well, yeah, we were both in the Teen Titans together!"

That conversation was interrupted as Damian, Alfred, and lastly, Bruce, filed into the tiny room.

"...are you all right?" Bruce asked, pulling up a chair next to his second son.

Jason looked a little uncomfortable at the attention. "Er...yeah, I'm fine. They think I'll be able to walk soon without crutches. The acid burned through some important stuff, so they did a few skin grafts. They think I'll be good in about three weeks. I also apparently got a liver transplant from Ivy's poison screwin' stuff up...normally I'd have to wait a few months for one, but since Harley talked to 'em, they decided-"

Damian looked confused. "Harley? Harley Quinn? What does she have to do with anything?"

Jason shrugged. "When I fell into the water tower with Ivy, she landed before I did and...melted? I dunno. Anyways, when I landed, the shit didn't burn, but I wasn't really good to swim with my leg all screwed up. I ended up getting sucked down a pipe. I started choking on the stuff, and that stopped the poison before anything more serious happened...I guess Ivy's skin goop turned all the Stinger into the antidote. Anyways, the next thing I remember, Harley Quinn is cutting the pipe with a chainsaw and pulled me outta there. Then she dumped me off here and talked to the nurse for about twenty minutes, and then she just left. I haven't seen her since, but she somehow organized this whole thing. I have no idea why. At first I kinda thought she had paid the staff to poison me, so I didn't eat anything for like, two days."

Bruce listened intently to this story, brooding. "Ignoring the liver transplant and the leg, what else was wrong?"

Jason furrowed his brow in concentration. "Uh...six broken ribs from Bane smacking me with that light post...two concussions, one from being thrown into that wall...by the way, I need a haircut...and another from the car crash...Venom withdrawal for about two days, but Roy kinda helped me with that, he knows all about withdrawal, apparently...um...nightmares from Scarecrow's fear toxin wearing off...if it means anything at all, I bruised my toe kicking Two-Face off that roof, but _God_ it was so worth it...oh, and they gave me meds to help with the pain. One of the pills totally numbs my entire left leg, so it'll be interesting hobbling around the slums on crutches."

Bruce sighed into his hands. "Jason...about that...I'd like you to spend your recovery time in the Manor."

Jason made a confused face. "Wait…what?"

Alfred spoke up. "Master Jason, it would be best for everyone involved if you do stay with us for awhile. I heard about the horrible conditions of your old dwelling places, and if you don't mind me saying so, I find it almost abusive to ask you to continue staying there in your current condition."

Dick grinned. "Yeah, Jaybird! It'll be fun! You and me can be roomies, I'm right across the hall from your old room and everything-"

Tim nudged him impatiently. "Dick, you're not helping our case."

Damian smirked. "I still need you to teach me that rope trick, as well as other ways to get out of the Manor without using the door."

Jason stared at the family across from him..._his_ family, if he wanted it. He had no idea what to say.

Oh, wait. Yes he did.

"Hn. Fine, I'll stay until the three weeks are up on _one _condition."

Bruce's eyes held hope. "Name it."

"I want a kick-ass plate of Alfred's strawberry pancakes because I got ripped off last time. I also want Roy to be allowed to stay there, too. He's a pain in the ass, but he'll be able to entertain me when you guys are out on patrol." Jason stated coolly, ignoring the look of surprise he got from Roy.

Bruce nodded. "I'm sure those things can be arranged. Roy, when will you be released?" he asked.

Roy grinned widely. "Hell, I was allowed to leave three days ago, but I threw out the paperwork! Let's go!" he promptly got out of bed, ignoring the odd looks at his food stained clothes.

Tim turned back to Jason, glancing at his hair. "By the way, why do you have mash-"

"Don't ask."

* * *

><p>DJG: There we go! Finally, I'm done fixing it! I think it's finally as awesome as it can be! Just in case, if there's any mistakes you guys find or if you're just confused about something, drop me a PM or a review and I'll get back to you ASAP! ^^<p> 


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